Jaipur / HC directs fresh mop-up round for MBBS, BDS seats

The Rajasthan High Court on Thursday directed a fresh mop-up round counselling be held for MBBS and BDS seats. The order was given by a single judge bench of Justice Alok Sharma on a petition by candidates who had alleged irregularities in the counselling process for the MBBS and BDS seats in medical colleges in the state.

BBL Sharma, advocate for the petitioner said the court has directed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG Medical and Dental admission and Counselling Board 2019 to hold a fresh mop-up round to remove all discrepancies.

He said on August 16, the state government had written to the Medical Council of India (MCI) saying that the matter was sub judice and sought more time to work on it.

“The MCI on Wednesday agreed to give more time and asked the state government to rectify the discrepancies by holding a fresh mop-up round. It also agreed, in view of the peculiar circumstance of the case, to the state government request to allow upgradation and upward movement of seats, which means that students who have already taken admission will still be allowed to upgrade to another college based on their merit,” he said.

The court order came in pursuance of the Ministry of Human Resource Development letter.

The court also allowed students who have taken admission after the second round of counselling held on August 12 to participate in the mop-up round if they wish to upgrade their seats.

Dr Sudhir Bhandari, chairman of the board, said the new dates would be announced soon.

The NEET board came under fire from candidates and their parents for widespread irregularities in the counselling process for MBBS and BDS seats.

Some of them had gone to court to seek a stay on the counselling contending that meritorious students had been denied seats in top medical colleges.

Candidates said that seats which were allotted in the first round to students who took admission outside the state were not freed up for the second round.

The counselling board delayed the second round to carry out a mapping of the seats and the vacant seats were kept blocked. It was only in the mop-up rounds that these seats were offered to candidates.

For the first time, 705 seats remained vacant in MBBS and 885 seats in BDS courses after two rounds of counselling for 23 government and private colleges. The vacant MBBS seats include government seats, management seats and seats reserved for NRI (non-resident Indian candidates).

The standard procedure is to hold two rounds of counselling followed by a mop-up round. Seats that remain vacant after the first round have to be offered for the second round.

Those that remain vacant after the second round are to be offered in the mop-up round.

“Earlier, only two to three seats used to be left vacant in top medical colleges. This time, more than 300 government seats were vacant in top medical colleges,” said Preksha Gehlot, a candidate.

“When we came for the mop up counselling, we realized that the students who have scored low marks than us got admission in good colleges while many of us with good ranks were misled and left out,” said Riddhi Mishra, another candidate.