The Supreme Court today refused to allow a fresh round of counselling for filling of vacant seats in postgraduate Medical and Dental courses at deemed universities..The judgment was passed by a Bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant in a petition filed by Education Promotion Society that had sought for an extension of time for the stray vacancy round..The petitioner organisation, represented by Senior Counsel Maninder Singh, had contended that there were around 1,000 vacancies in the PG Medical and Dental courses at deemed universities. It was argued that with an extension of time for a stray vacancy round, these vacancies can be filled..Singh had also argued that such exceptions had been provided by the Court in the past and should the same be allowed this time, meritorious students who have cleared NEET could be inducted into the courses by deemed universities..It was also contended that while the counselling process has ended on May 31, the period allotted for a stray round between May 27 and May 31 was, in fact, insufficient to complete the process..The petitioner had also cited the example of the Court’s order in the Maharashtra case where an extension to complete counselling was granted after the EWS quota was scrapped from this year’s admission process..Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, arguing for the Directorate General of Health Services, opposed this contention. He argued that the previous instances of extension of time ought not be treated as precedents. He further apprised the Court of the admission process and stated that after filling of the all-India quota, the vacancies, if any, were reverted to the states..After a detailed hearing, the Court had reserved its judgment in the case on June 20..[Read Judgment].Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.
