education

Updated: Jun 27, 2017 18:12 IST

The Union ministry of health and family welfare has limited the round of counselling for admission to medical colleges under the all-India quota after the declaration of the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

According to the directions issued to deemed universities and state governments, two rounds of counselling would be conducted instead of three. Common counselling to all-India quota and state quota seats is to be conducted by the directorate general of health services (DGHS) and the state government (or designated authority), respectively.

Since the NEET results are out the health ministry will conduct counselling for 15% seats under the all-India quota and state government for the remaining 85% seats.

However, following the new directions, an applicant who has taken admission under the all-India quota in the second counselling will not be allowed to vacate the seat for a better college. Earlier, students had an option to wait till the third counselling.

Giving reasons for scrapping the third counselling, the directions read: “This will ensure that a few seats are reverted to the state quota and also all-India quota seats are filed by students from the all-India merit list only. The students who take admission in deemed universities pursuant to the second round of counselling conducted by the DGHS will not be eligible to participate in any other counselling.”

“Disallowing students who take admission under the all-India quota after the second counselling to vacate seats will stop the practice of blocking seats. However, the real effect will be seen only after its implementation. Not having a third round of counselling by the DGHS for the all-India quota seats may prove to be counterproductive,” said a Chandigarh-based NEET trainer.

The directions also state that 15% of MBBS/BDS seats of all private deemed medical universities will now be filled through the central counselling to be conducted by the DGHS. Earlier, all deemed universities used to conduct the counselling at their own level for 15% seats. From now on, their admissions will also be done under the all-India quota.

COLLEGES CANNOT REFUSE ADMISSION

According to the directions, a student who secures admission in the MBBS course pursuant to the common counselling conducted by the state government should be made to deposit a demand draft towards the fees payable to the institution. The admission/counselling committee will forward the demand draft to the institution. This has been done to stop the practice of denying admission to students after counselling.

MANUAL COUNSELLING IN CASE OF VACANT SEATS

To ascertain the number of seats that still remain vacant after the counselling, the state government will conduct manual counselling. The government will then forward a list of students in order of merit, equalling to 10 times the number of vacant seats to the medical college so that in case of any stray vacancy in any college, the seat may be filled from the list.