MUMBAI: After close to 550 super-specialty medical seats in the country remained vacant this year in the first-ever centralized admission process through NEET, Union ministry of health and family welfare is planning stringent measures to prevent vacancies and ensure meritorious students are not left without seats.For one, doctors may henceforth be barred from the process for a year or two if they do not accept seats allotted in a given year. Also, candidates may have to pay upfront a higher fee (up to Rs 2 lakh) for NEET counselling as deposit and it will be transferred to the college where they are admitted. But the money will be forfeited if they fail to continue with the course.Of 1,907 superspecialty seats available this year, 550 remained vacant after two admission rounds. Over 200 remained vacant in state--run colleges. Two court cases and a stay for a few days delayed the process. As September 14 was the last day for admission, government could not hold a third round. Before this, super-specialty seats were filled by states or individual institutes.“Many candidates selected seats but did not join. These seats remained blocked. Vacancies were known after completion of rounds,“ said an official from the ministry about this year's situation. While the ministry plans tough measures, nothing is finalised yet. “It is unfortunate seats were available in government colleges but meritorious students were unable to take it,“ said the official. The reason students backed out is states like Tamil Nadu , Telangana and Andhra impose mandatory rural service for 510 years and set a bond of Rs 2 crore if they fail to fulfil it, said the official. “Most doctors finish MD at age of 30-35 and seek admission to superspecialty when they are in their late 30s or early 40s. They did not want to do a rural stint of 10 years at this stage,“ said the official.For admission to superspecialty courses at all-India level, NEET Superspecialty , was held. Courses on offer included doctor of medicine (DM) in dif ferent branches and other Master of Surgery (M Ch) courses.Counselling to fill seats in government, private and deemed colleges was held.A doctor from Nair Hospital said that the move comes as several deserving students were left without admission this year. “Despite having seats, many lost out. And there are many seats vacant. Doctors did not report to the seats after opting for them. Such candidates should be rightly debarred or asked to pay a heavy penalty for wasting the seat. Why should they block the seats?“ said the doctor.