After months of delay, the Supreme Court finally allowed the government to conduct NEET PG and UG counselling. While the focus has been on the resident doctors due to the shortage of manpower in hospitals across the country, the UG candidates have also been waiting for their chance to enter medical colleges. 

For instance, Hyderabad-based Mrinal Kutteri, who topped the NEET UG 2021 exams, says that the last few months have been spent waiting for the counselling to happen. "Now that the verdict is out, I hope that counselling will happen soon. A lot of people have been waiting for it to start."

Similar sentiments were shared by Mumbai-based Karthika G Nair, who had secured rank 3 in the exam. Nair said, "It is about time now, finally the counselling will start. It has already been very late." Both Kutteri and Nair will be able to secure admission at AIIMS, Delhi, with ease. 

The academic calendar has been delayed for two consecutive years now; there were delays in UG admissions last year as well due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this year, the delay was due to a clutch of cases pending in the Supreme Court regarding the newly introduced quota for the economically weaker sections. 

On January 7, clearing the way for the Centre to conduct NEET UG and PG counselling, Justice DY Chandrachud, said, "We have upheld the validity of OBC. In EWS, we've upheld the criteria for this year so that the admissions are not dislocated for the current academic year. We will hear the petition with regards to the EWS criteria later." The dates for the counselling are yet to be confirmed.