Mumbai: Despite the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Maharashtra’s Round 3 counselling for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) Postgraduate (PG) 2024, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) on Tuesday confirmed that it will proceed with the Stray Vacancy Round for All India Quota (AIQ) seats.
The MCC directed state counselling authorities to submit a list of candidates who have secured seats in previous rounds by 5 p.m. on Tuesday to facilitate fair seat allocation. However, the delay in Maharashtra’s Round 3 results has left aspirants in a state of confusion.
The process in Maharashtra has been postponed due to pending updates to the in-service candidate data. The delay, announced by the state Common Entrance Test (CET) cell on Monday, stems from a High Court order requiring modifications to the merit list for in-service candidates.
The issue is not limited to Maharashtra as a similar trend of extensions and postponements has been observed in Rajasthan, Karnataka, West Bengal, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh, further complicating the admission process for NEET PG aspirants nationwide.
Prolonged delays have frustrated the medical aspirants from Maharashtra, who called for “a fair chance” at postgraduate medical admissions. “The uncertainty in state counselling disrupts our career prospects and could impact our future placements. The MCC should give us clarity as the process is stalled because of a High Court order,” argued a candidate from the state.
In a recent notification, the MCC underscored the urgency of filtering out candidates already holding seats through state counselling before proceeding with the Stray Vacancy Round. State authorities have been instructed to upload data from all completed rounds onto the MCC’s portal by the stipulated deadline.
The MCC also disclosed details of candidates who secured seats in Rounds 1, 2, and 3 to prevent discrepancies during the seat allocation process.
The CET Cell had earlier released a provisional merit list for the 20% in-service quota on February 4. However, the state counselling body later announced a delay in Round 3 admissions due to modifications in the in-service candidate data following the court ruling.
The NEET PG state merit list had previously been revised after 116 in-service candidates alleged that incentive marks were not factored into the initial ranking.
As Maharashtra’s Round 3 counselling remains in limbo, medical aspirants are left grappling with uncertainty over their admissions. With MCC proceeding with the AIQ Stray Vacancy Round, candidates await further clarity from state authorities regarding their future prospects.
