SC for common counselling for MD/MS and DNB degree courses

The Supreme Court on Tuesday put its stamp of approval for holding common counselling to fill up Post Graduate MD/MS and DNB courses for the candidates qualifying the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test 2021 and onwards.

A bench of Justices U U Lalit and Dinesh Maheshwari said, "We hope the authorities will be able to have common counselling for DNB (Diplomate of National Board) PG seats along with all Post Graduate seats leading to degrees and diplomas for coming years starting with NEET- PG 2021 Examination."

The National Board of Examination, the designated authority to conduct NEET- PG, 2020, said before the court that it was agreeable “in principle” to conduct common counselling from the next year.

The Medical Council of India, the regulatory body, submitted that at the post graduate level the entire counselling process, conducted from the perspective of the students revolved around the speciality and subject in which the student was able to secure the seat based on their rank in the NEET examination. Generally, students preferred to opt for a diploma or DNB course in clinical subject over Post Graduate degree course in non-clinical subject.

The court here was dealing with a plea by Alapati Jyotsna and others, who wanted a direction to the Union government and others to conduct “single counselling” for filling up seats in the Post Graduate medical courses leading to degrees and diplomas and the seats in DNB (Diplomate of National Board) Courses.

They said if the counselling was conducted through a single stream for the DNB courses also, the candidates will be free to opt for a payment seat in DNB courses. As of now as they are not sure of getting a seat in DNB, they cannot forfeit their seat in the MD and MS courses though it may not be of their choices.

In responses, the National Board of Examination as well as of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the counselling and consequential process of admission is now at an advanced stage. If submission of petitioner were accepted at this stage, it would result in complete disturbance of the admission process of the present year.

On this, the bench said since the petitioners approached the court at a stage where the entire process has been undertaken and many candidates have been allocated various courses, "we do not deem it appropriate to pass any direction for the present year".

However, the court said, "a common counselling or single online counselling in the coming years would definitely take care of any grievance of the candidate."