New Delhi Mar 31 PTI The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the All India Quota mop-up round counselling for NEET-PG 2021-22 admissions to resolve the anomalies over 146 fresh seats which were not available for candidates who participated in round one and two of the process A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud Surya Kant and Bela M Trivedi directed holding of a special round of counselling for 146 fresh seats and allowed the students who have joined the All India Quota AIQ or state quota in round two to participate in it The bench directed the Director General of Health Services DGHS to invite options from students within 24 hours and complete the process within 72 hours after the cut-off time for the options The bench clarified that all the directions have been issued in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution At the outset additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the Centre said that DGHS has decided to drop the 146 fresh seats which were added for the first time in the mop-up roundOn the advisory of March 16 Bhati said that it is in tune with the earlier verdict of the top court but the problem was that many states had not informed the Centre on time about the number of students who had taken admission under State quotaThe suggestion of dropping the seats did not go well with the court as the bench said You can very well have an additional round for filling of 146 seats and we will have 146 more doctors You dont have to drop the seatsit is a criminal way to drop the seatsThe bench said that DGHS may hold a fresh round of counselling for 146 seats after asking for options from the students within 24 hour and complete the process within one weekWe will uphold the advisory of March 16 that students who had participated in round two of the counselling for state quota will not participate in the mop-up of the All India Quota the bench saidAdvocate Shivendra Singh appearing for some of the doctors said that the March 16 advisory is against the scheme contemplated in the earlier verdict of the top court and it is like changing the rules in between as students were given to believe that those who have taken state quota will be eligible to participate in the mop-up round of AIQThe bench said that although Singh has been persuasive it cannot grant relief to his clients as not everyone can be pleasedBhati suggested to the court that if the it is allowing the students who participated in round two of AIQ to participate for 146 seats then students from state quota could also be allowed to ensure parityShe said that option be confined to round two only as the seats are always added in that round and it has not been problematic as round one candidates get free exit as an optionOn Wednesday the top court had directed the Centre to maintain status quo till Thursday in the mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling and asked the Director General of Health Services DGHS to reconsider issues including the decision of adding 146 new seatsThe apex court had observed that these 146 seats were not available to the candidates in the previous rounds of counselling and they had no opportunity to participate in these seatsIt had said that these 146 seats have been allocated to students who are lower in merit than those who were allotted seats in the rounds one and two of the counsellingThe top court is hearing petitions filed by a group of doctors seeking to participate in the mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counsellingOne group of petitions filed through advocate Tanvi Dubey said that the doctors who had appeared in NEET-PG and participated in round one of the counselling and had joined were not provided upgrade in round twoAnother group of petitions challenged the March 16 advisory of the Medical Counselling Committee which restricts the candidate from participating in mop-up round if has chosen a seat in State quotaOn March 28 the apex court had asked the DGHS to respond to a batch of petitions filed by a group of doctors seeking to participate in the mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counsellingSenior advocate Gopal Sankaranaryanan appearing for some of the petitioners had said that notices have been issued by the DGHS bringing in new seats which were not available to them and now students who were below in merit will be getting better seats PTI MNL SA

New Delhi Mar 31 PTI The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the All India Quota mop-up round counselling for NEET-PG 2021-22 admissions to resolve the anomalies over 146 fresh seats which were not available for candidates who participated in round one and two of the processA bench of Justices DY Chandrachud Surya Kant and Bela M Trivedi directed holding of a special round of counselling for 146 fresh seats and allowed the students who have joined the All India Quota AIQ or state quota in round two to participate in itThe bench directed the Director General of Health Services DGHS to invite options from students within 24 hours and complete the process within 72 hours after the cut-off time for the optionsThe bench clarified that all the directions have been issued in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the ConstitutionOn Wednesday the top court had directed the Centre to maintain status quo till Thursday in the mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling and asked the Director General of Health Services DGHS to reconsider issues including the decision of adding 146 new seats PTI MNL MNL DV DV

New Delhi Mar 30 PTI The Supreme Court Wednesday directed the Centre to maintain status quo till Thursday in the mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling and asked the Director General of Health Services DGHS to reconsider the issues including the decision of adding 146 new seatsThe apex court observed that these 146 seats were not available to the candidates in the previous rounds of counselling and they had no opportunity to participate in these seatsA bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud said these seats have been allocated to students who are lower in merits than those who were allotted seats in the rounds one and two of the counsellingThe bench also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Bela M Trivedi said this is one of the aspects which needs to be revisited by the DGHSThe top court is hearing petitions filed by a group of doctors seeking to participate in mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling During the hearing the bench observed that the second aspect was regarding non-uniform application of the March 16 noticeIn one of the petitions the petitioners have challenged the Medical Counselling Committee notice dated March 16 which restrains the participation in the mop-up round counselling if the candidate has already picked up seats in state quotaThe bench observed that as a consequence of the March 16 notice candidates who are allotted seats in rounds one and two in the state quota are prevented from participating in the mop-up counselling for the All India quotaIt observed that prima facie the notice has not been followed uniformly and this might cast a doubt as to whether allocation of seats in the All India quota in mop-up round is fairThe bench asked the Centre to respond on these issues on Thursday and said until then status quo in the mop-up round counselling be maintainedOn March 28 the apex court had asked the DGHS to respond to a batch of petitions filed by a group of doctors seeking to participate in the mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counsellingSenior advocate Gopal Sankaranaryanan appearing for some of the petitioners had said that notices have been issued by the DGHS bringing into new seats which were not available to them and now students who were below in merit will be getting better seatsOne group of petitions before the top court filed by doctors said that they had participated in round one of the counselling and had joined one discipline but were not allowed to upgrade in round two and sought permission to appear in mop-up round PTI MNL ABA SA

New Delhi Mar 21 PTI The Supreme Court on Monday posted for final disposal the petitions challenging the applicability of Economically Weaker Section EWS criteria of Rs 8 lakh in NEET-PG 2022-23A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant said We will post these matters for final disposal in the month of April We now have to hear the matter and everything is there in law Parties concerned shall file their detailed written submission We have upheld the 27 percent OBC quota and now we will confine ourselves to EWS criteria onlyAt the outset senior advocate Arvind Datar appearing for MBBS doctors said examination will be held in May and results will be announced thereafterPlease hear it sometime soon Only EWS matter remains If anything needs to be filed from the government side then it should be filed in advance to avoid any adjournment Pleadings are complete in the matter he saidOn February 14 the top court had refused to entertain a plea seeking clarification on the applicability of EWS criteria of Rs 8 lakh in NEET-PG 2022-23 saying it is seized of the matter and whatever it decides will be applicableThe top court had said We have not stalled the process of determining the EWS criteria for next academic year We have said EWS quota will be as per our order We have kept the matter in March for disposal The process cannot stop Whatever we will decide will applyOn January 20 in its reasoned order the top court had said merit cannot be reduced to narrow definitions of performance in an open competitive examination which only provides formal equality of opportunity as it upheld 27 per cent Other Backward Classes OBC reservation in All India Quota AIQ seats in the NEET for UG and PG medical coursesJustifying allowing quota for EWS on existing quota for the current academic year the bench had said We are still in the midst of the pandemic and any delay in the recruitment of doctors would impact the ability to manage the pandemic Hence it is necessary to avoid any further delays in the admission process and allow counselling to begin immediatelyOn the EWS quota the top court had said that it is a settled principle of law that in matters involving a challenge to the constitutionality of legislation or a rule the Court must be wary to pass an interim order unless the Court is convinced that the rules are prima facie arbitraryThe bench while listing the matter in the third week of March said as a result we allow the implementation of EWS reservation in AIQ seats in NEET UG and PG seats for the academic year of 2021-2022 The EWS category shall be identified in view of the criteria in Office Memorandum of 2019On January 7 the top court had paved the way for starting the stalled NEET-PG 2021 counselling process based on the existing 27 per cent OBC and 10 per cent EWS reservations in the All India Quota seats saying there is an urgent need to begin the admission processThe Centre had constituted a three-member committee comprising Ajay Bhushan Pandey former finance secretary VK Malhotra member secretary ICSSR and Sanjeev Sanyal Principal Economic Adviser to Centre to revisit the criteria for determining EWSThe committee in its report submitted on December 31 last year to the Centre said The current gross annual family income limit for EWS of Rs 8 lakh or less may be retained In other words only those families whose annual income is up to Rs 8 lakh would be eligible to get the benefit of EWS reservation The Centre has said it decided to accept the recommendations of the panel to retain the current gross annual family income limit for defining EWS at Rs 8 lakh or lessIt also told the court that according to the panel family income is a feasible criterion for defining EWS and in the current situation a threshold of Rs 8 lakh seems reasonable for the purpose PTI MNL SA