NEW DELHI: Authorities may still be grappling with the menace of leakage of question papers, but merit has come under fresh threats, this time from

who have succeeded in turning the

in prestigious 50% all India quota post-graduate medical courses upside down to allot low-ranked candidates premium seats in prestigious colleges.

Ranked 692nd rank in the merit list of all India quota PG medical entrance examination 2012 conducted by All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Pankila Mittal was sure to bag a MD/MS seat in a desired course in a prestigious medical college. After the first round of counseling conducted by

(DGHS), she was allotted a MD seat in Seth GS Medical College, Mumbai on May 16 and completed formalities of admission.

However, she wanted to take a chance for upgradation and participated in the second round of counseling as she had not got her preferred course in MD. Her choice was MD (Obst & Gynaec), (Dermatology) (Veneral and Leprosy). To her horror, she discovered that the results were circulating a day before on the social networking sites and that too she had been allotted Diploma in Venerology and Dermatology, which was 21st in the list of 24 choices given by her.

Among others who were allotted the same diploma course were candidates holding ranks 6805, 6198, 1402 and 1376. She moved the Supreme Court and a bench of Justices HL Gokhale and Ranjana P Desai asked the counsel for DGHS to look into the complaint and get back with the official response to the alleged hacking of merit-based allotment of MD seats. Pankila submitted stories similar to her for court's perusal. Sudhansu Sekhar Das holding 1309 rank was allotted MD (TB and Respiratory Diseases) after first round of counseling, but it was cancelled after third round of counseling and allotted MD (Forensic Medicine), which he had never opted.

Uttam Kumar Lenka with 641 rank had got MD (Dermatology, Venerology and Leprosy) after first round of counseling but found himself allotted Diploma in the same subject. Vinay Kumar Muttagi was ranked 4389 and had a seat for Diploma in Gyaecology and Obstetrics but was allotted MD in Forensic Medicine after third round.

Pankila said she was not seeking scrapping of the system of allotment of seats through online counseling but requested the court to ensure that "the principle of merit" was not sacrificed because of insecure websites. She pleaded with the court to stay the filling of the seats allotted after third round of online counseling as per the results declared on June 12 in respect of all India quota PG Medical/Dental seats.