The Supreme Court directed the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) to conduct a special round of counselling to fill vacant medical seats for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate courses. This follows the observation made by the bench about the shortage of doctors, reported Bar and Bench.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan passed directions on a plea seeking directions to the admission authorities to conduct stray/special counselling rounds for the seats remaining vacant even after the fifth round of counselling.

"Taking into consideration the peculiar facts and circumstances and further that the precious medical seats should not go in waste, when the country is facing acute shortage of Doctors, we are inclined to extend the period by way of a last chance. The Admission Authorities are, therefore, directed to hold a fresh stray/special counselling for the seats remaining vacant and complete the admission process prior to December 30, 2024 in any eventuality," the court said.

Further, the court directed that no college be permitted to admit students directly and that admission should be conducted only through the State Admission Authorities. Clearing the air about the stray/special admission process, the court said that the process should not disturb the already finalised admissions and that admissions would be made only from the waitlisted candidates.