The Supreme Court on June 9 indicated that ‘stray’ rounds of counselling to fill over 1,400 vacant seats in NEET PG 2021 cannot go on forever while the government said candidates did not opt for these seats, which are mostly for non-clinical courses, despite nine rounds of counselling.
Appearing before a Vacation Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and Aniruddha Bose, Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh, for the Health Ministry, submitted that out of a total 1,456 vacant seats in NEET PG 2021, over 1,100 were allocated to private medical colleges while the government had 300 vacant seats.
“Non-clinical courses are for those who prefer an academic life. They would not be medical doctors but would be qualified to teach subjects such as anatomy, etc. Very difficult to get such jobs. So students do not opt for these courses though there are seats available,” the law officer explained.
Mr. Singh also explained that 76.7% of the vacant seats belong to private institutions and students do not find it feasible to enroll for expensive non-clinical courses in these colleges which would ultimately not even guarantee them employment.
Annual phenomenon
Advocate Gaurav Sharma, appearing for the National Medical Commission, said vacant seats in non-clinical courses was an annual phenomenon.
The court, on June 8, on a petition filed by a group of doctors led by Astha Goel, senior advocate Rachna Srivastava, advocates Charu Mathur and Milind Kumar, had taken serious note of the 1,456 vacant seats. The petitioners had sought a “special stray” round of counselling to fill up these seats. The court had said that seats could not be left vacant when the country, after a pandemic, could not afford a dearth of doctors.
After hearing the government’s version that such vacant seats were an annual feature, the Bench seemed to agree that there should be a limit to the counselling process for the PG 2021, which should not interfere with the upcoming NEET PG 2022 counselling process.
“Merely because some seats have been left vacant after eight or nine rounds of counselling, can you say you will be given admission after one-and-half years in a three-year course, compromising with the education and the health of people? Try to appreciate this is a three-year course,” the court addressed the petitioners.
Ms. Srivastava, however, argued that the counselling had abruptly stopped on May 7 and an RTI reply showed that there were a large number of vacant seats available in surgery, anaesthesia, and ophthalmology PG courses.
But the court indicated that students hardly have a right even after nine rounds of counselling and the passing of a year and a half in a three-year course. The PG academic curriculum cannot be undone.
“There cannot be any compromise with education... on that we are very sure. Suppose you were hungry for six months, can you eat everything in one day? No! Education is like that. This is a three-year course,” Justice Shah said.
The court reserved the case for pronouncement of orders on June 10.
