The Centre on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that it will conduct the counselling for the NEET-MDS admissions from August 20 to October 10, 2021.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the petitioners, submitted before the top court that that Centre, in its affidavit, said that they will conduct the counselling for the NEET-MDS admissions, for which exams were held last year on December 16, from August 20 to October 10, 2021. The results were declared on December 31, 2020.
After taking Centre's statement on record, a bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah disposed of the matter.
Also Read
The top court, on August 9, had asked the Centre to apprise it, by Wednesday, as to when it will conduct counselling for the NEET-MDS admissions. It also pointed out that since the Centre has approved OBC reservation in medical seats when it will conduct the counselling.
The top court, on July 12, had taken strong note of delay in holding the counselling, and remarked that Centre and others have been "dilly-dallying" for a year now. The top court had said the petitioners are qualified BDS students and queried why the Centre had not held the counselling since last year.
The plea said the petitioners, who are doctors, are challenging the "unjust and infinite delay" caused by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) in announcing the counselling schedule for NEET-MDS, 2021. The plea sought a direction to the MCC to conduct a separate counselling for the NEET-MDS 2021.
"It is most respectfully submitted that umpteen efforts were made by the petitioners to get in touch with the respondents in order to get an idea about the schedule of the counselling. However, there has been no update about the date of the commencement of the counselling," said the plea.
On July 29, the Centre had announced a 27 per cent quota for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker section (EWS) category in the All-India Quota (AIQ) scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses. The quota is application in the current academic year, 2021-22.