Education/Educational Institutions: Medical admission – NEET-PG-2022 –Conduct of Special Stray Round of counselling with respect to vacant seats – Entitlement to – Modified scheme of counselling for Academic Year 2021-2022 whereby, four rounds of counselling undertaken for All India Quota seats as well as States’ Quotas each-in all eight rounds of counselling – After completion, out of 40,000 seats, 1456 seats remained vacant wherein more than 1100 seats are non-clinical seats and the remaining are the clinical seats, all with respect to the private institutions – Petitioners claiming admission on the remaining vacant seats– Direction sought to the respondents to conduct a Special Stray Round of counselling –Held: Students cannot seek admission on those seats remaining vacant after approximately one year of academic session and after eight or nine rounds of counselling–When the Medical Counselling Committee and the Union of India have to adhere to the time schedule for completing the admission process and ever after conducting eight to nine rounds of counselling, still some seats have remained vacant, a conscious decision taken by the Union Government/the Medical Counselling Committee, not to conduct a further Special Stray Round of counselling, cannot said to be arbitrary– Decision of, not to have Special Stray Round of counselling is in the interest of Medical Education and Public Health – There cannot be any compromise with the merits and/or quality of Medical Education, which may ultimately affect the Public Health– Process of admission and that too in the medical education cannot be endless– Time schedule has to be strictly adhered to – Furthermore, after closure of the last round of counselling, the entire software mechanism has been closed and the security deposit is refunded to the eligible candidates, if one additional Special Stray Round of counselling is conducted now, it may affect the admission process for NEET-PG1078 2022 – In view thereof, the petitioners not entitled to the relief of conducting a Special Stray Round of counselling for filling up the remaining vacant seats of NEET-PG-2021.
Education Promotion Society for India and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors.(2019) 7 SCC 38 : [2019] 8 SCR 794; Supreet Batra and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. (2003) 3 SCC 370 : [2003] 1 SCR 586 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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