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In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court of India has addressed systemic flaws in the NEETPG counselling process, aiming to eliminate seat blocking and uphold merit-based admissions for postgraduate medical courses.
The ruling, delivered on April 29, 2025, modifies a 2018 order by the Allahabad High Court and introduces sweeping reforms to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability in medical admissions.
Background
The case (State of U.P. vs. Miss Bhavna Tiwari & Ors.) originated from grievances filed by Dr. Bhavna Tiwari and Dr. Sonal Sharma, NEETPG 2017 aspirants. Despite securing high ranks, they were denied seats in their preferred specialty (MD Radiology) due to seat blocking—a malpractice where candidates temporarily hold seats in early counselling rounds, only to vacate them later for better options in mop-up rounds. This practice disadvantaged meritorious students, as 80% of seats were filled in mop-up rounds, often by less-qualified candidates.
The Allahabad High Court had earlier directed the U.P. Government to pay ₹10 lakh compensation to each petitioner and reform the admission process. The Supreme Court, while upholding the need for systemic reforms, reduced the compensation to ₹1 lakh each, citing procedural adherence but acknowledging the petitioners’ role in exposing systemic flaws.
Key Reforms Introduced by the SC
- Implement a Nationally synchronized counselling calendar to align AIQ and State rounds and prevent seat blocking across systems. Four mandatory rounds: Round 1, Round 2, Mop-Up, and Stray Vacancy—all conducted online to eliminate discretion by private colleges.
- Mandate Pre-Counselling Fee Disclosure by all private / deemed universities, detailing tuition, hostel, caution deposit, and miscellaneous charges.
- Establish a Centralized Fee Regulation Framework under the National Medical Commission (NMC)
- Permit upgrade windows post-round 2 for admitted candidates to shift to better seats without reopening counselling to new entrants.
- Publish raw scores, answer keys and normalization formulae for transparency in multi-shift NEETPG exams.
- Enforce strict penalties for seat blocking including forfeiture of security deposit, disqualification from future NEETPG exams (for repeat offenders), blacklisting of complicit colleges.
- Implement Aadhaar-based seat tracking to prevent multiple seat holdings and misrepresentation.
- Hold state authorities and institutional DMEs accountable under contempt or disciplinary action for rule or schedule violations.
- Adopt a Uniform Counselling Conduct Code across all States for standard rules on eligibility, mop-up rounds, seat withdrawal, and grievance timelines.
- NMC-appointed oversight committees to audit counseling data annually for compliance.
Conclusion
The Supreme Court’s verdict marks a paradigm shift in medical admissions, prioritizing merit, transparency, and equity. With these reforms, India’s NEETPG system is poised to become a model for fair and efficient seat allocation, benefiting thousands of aspirants annually.
Experts say it must be implement the directives by the 2025-26 academic session, with NMC monitoring compliance.
The Medical Bulletin
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