[BREAKING] NEET-MDS Counselling will be held within 4 weeks: Central govt tells Supreme Court

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has informed the Supreme Court that counseling for the NEET -MDS students for 2020 will be carried out virtually within 4 weeks as per existing reservation policies. .The Central government also made it clear that it did not "dilly dally" with the counselling as stated by the Supreme Court during the last hearing.The unforeseen delay in counselling was due to the clarification which was sought from top court regarding OBC reservation in All India Quota (AIQ) seats which are contributed by the state medical colleges under the AIQ scheme..The reply stated that the petition of Saloni Kumari vs Director General of Health Services continues to remain pending before the top court and that several writ petitions were filed in Madras High Court seeking 27 percent OBC reservation in All India Quota seats.."Ministry of Health dilly dallying:" Supreme Court urges Central govt to finalise NEET-MDS 2021 counselling schedule within a week.It was further pointed out that an additional affidavit was filed by the government in the Saloni Kumari case in February this year, but the same has not yet been taken up on record and poses to be a hurdle to conduct NEET-MDS counseling. .The reply was filed in a plea challenging the "unjust and infinite delay by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC)" in the announcement of the counselling schedule for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and Masters of Dental Surgery courses (NEET-MDS) 2021..The top court had taken exception to the delay by the Central government in not arriving at a decision and asked the government to do so by this week."You are just dilly dallying. Make a statement now. Ministry of Health is just dilly dallying. These are hands on courses and these doctors will be in service of patients," Justice DY Chandrachud had said..We hope the centre will be conscious to the ramifications of the delay being faced by students due to the non-counselling of students, the Court had added.The top court had, on July 2, issued notice on the plea..The plea had said that the entrance exam was conducted on December 16, 2020.Thereafter, results were also declared on December 31, 2020. However, after the declaration of results there has been no update yet regarding counselling."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, till today there has been no update, regarding the counselling," the petition filed through advocates Tanvi Dubey and Charu Mathur said.