SC to hear plea on extension of deadline for PG medical seats

New Delhi: A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking a direction to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to extend the deadline for post-graduate medical courses till June 17, as nearly 450 to 500 seats are yet to be filled.

The petition said: “The benefit of extension of Stray Vacancy Round to medical colleges in order to fill vacant seats for the current academic year. This would be beneficial to the concerned colleges but also to the students who are looking to join a medical institute to pursue PG courses.”

The last date of counselling for PG medical courses was on May 31.

Advocate Devashish Bharuka, representing a society of deemed universities/medical colleges, informed a vacation bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi that deemed universities seek directions from the court to extend the deadline for Stray Vacancy Round for meritorious students.

These students have already qualified the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and their names have been included in DGHS waiting list.

Bharuka contended before the court these students should be given another opportunity rather than PG seats remaining vacant in the current academic year.

The court has issued notices to the Centre and the Medical Council of India, and the matter is listed for further hearing on Wednesday.

The petition brought to the notice of the court that hundreds of seats go vacant every year in PG medical courses due to certain technical or other reason, despite the best efforts of the medical colleges. Therefore, due to technical reasons many students despite passing the NEET, fail to get admissions in PG medical courses.

“The medical institutions spend huge money in creating the infrastructure for providing quality education and if not utilised, then it is a waste which is detrimental to the interest of both the institution and the student,” argued Bharuka before the court.

The medical universities/colleges have already made representations to DGHS to grant permission for one additional round of counselling, but to no avail.Therefore, the petitioner has moved the top court.

“The students travel from various parts of the country to join PG courses and take a decision after looking at the infrastructure and other facilities of the institutions. Many students could not reach in time, and this led to many vacant seats in medical colleges across the country”, said the petition.

Deemed universities contended before the court that they were given five days – May 27 to May 31 – to complete the PG admissions in Stray Vacancy Round, which is actually insufficient.

Published on: June 12, 2019 at 03:12 IST

By IANS