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NEET PG Counselling 2021 :Supreme Court To Hear Doctors' Plea To Appear In Mop Up Round On March 25
Shruti Kakkar
21 March 2022 4:37 PM IST
The Supreme Court on Monday requested assistance of one of the Additional Solicitor Generals in a writ petition referred by doctors seeking permission to appear in the mop up round.The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant while granting liberty to serve the Central Agencies (Medical Counselling Committee, National Board of Examination and Union of India) in addition adjourned the...
The Supreme Court on Monday requested assistance of one of the Additional Solicitor Generals in a writ petition referred by doctors seeking permission to appear in the mop up round.
The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant while granting liberty to serve the Central Agencies (Medical Counselling Committee, National Board of Examination and Union of India) in addition adjourned the same for Friday i.e. March 25, 2022.
"Liberty to serve the Central Agency in addition. We request one of the ASG's to appear & assist the court," the bench said in its order.
The petition was preferred by the doctor who had appeared in NEET PG 2021 and participated in Round 1 of the Counseling and had joined DNB Psychiatry but was not provided an upgrade in Round 2 and thus intended to apply for the Mop-Up round.
When the matter was called for hearing, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde appearing for one petitioner (Dr Vineet Rathi) submitted that this year the aspirants were in a peculiar situation.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appearing for another petitioner (Dr Anjana Chari SN) drew the Court's attention to the notice uploaded by the Director General of Health Services providing the details for the additional seats being introduced for the Mop Up Round of PG Counseling.
"Who's for the respondents?" the bench at this juncture asked.
On none entering appearance on behalf of the respondents, the bench while adjourning the matter for Friday i.e March 25, 2022 granted the petitioners liberty to serve the Central Agency and also requested one of the ASG's to appear and assist the Court.
Details Of The Plea
It was argued in the petition that the seats for Mop Up Round were not available for the candidates who have joined seats in Round I or Round II which created an embargo and was duly prejudicial to the candidate's interest.
"That while restricting the candidates an option of upgrade and to apply for the Mop-Up round, the Respondent is taking away the precious right of the meritorious candidates to apply for the Mop- Up round. It is also creating an artificial divide among the candidates who are registering for round 1 and round 2 and the candidates who can registering for Mop-Up round," the plea stated.
To substantiate their contention, doctors in the plea relied on information brochure of INI CET wherein candidates were allowed to register for the Open Round of seat allocation (which is after the 1st and the 2nd round) subject to vacating the original allocated seat during allocation process.
Against this backdrop, the plea said,
"The Petitioner and other similarly placed candidates are grossly aggrieved by the action of the Respondent No. 1 in not allowing the candidates to apply for Mop-Up round in case they are holding a seat of Round-1 or Round 2. By doing so, the Respondent in an unfair manner is restricting the candidates to apply for the Mop-Up round."
The petitioners also sought relief to amend clause (g) of the modified scheme which provides no option of up gradation to Mop Up Round from Round 2 and clause (h) which restricts the candidates who have joined allotted seat in Round 2 and further rounds from resigning and participating in further rounds.
Reference was also made to the order passed by the bench led by Justice LN Rao in Nihla PP v MCC wherein directions were issued to the Union Government to file an affidavit explaining the scheme of counseling for NEET- PG/UG 2021.
It may be noted that pursuant to the directions of the Top Court, Medical Council Committee of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had informed the Court that modified scheme for All India Quota counselling from the academic year 2021-2022 for NEET (both Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes) would be implemented.
The petitioners were represented by Dubey Law Associates and the petition was filed through Advocate Dr Charu Mathur.
Case Title: Dr Vineet Vijendra Rathi v Medical Counselling Committee & Ors and Dr Anjana Chari SN v Medical Counselling Committee & Ors.| Writ Petition (Civil) 164 of 2022
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