Seats in medical courses cannot remain vacant, the Supreme Court emphasised, today, Friday, January 3, directing the Centre to convene a meeting with relevant stakeholders, including state representatives, to address the issue. This was stated in a report by PTI. 

A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan observed, "Seats also cannot go vacant."  

In April 2023, the apex court raised concerns over super-speciality seats in medical courses remaining unfilled. In response, the Centre proposed forming a committee with representatives from states, private medical colleges, and the director general of health services to tackle the problem.  

The Centre’s counsel informed the court that the committee had been constituted and had submitted its recommendations. The bench suggested that the Centre should hold discussions with stakeholders to finalise a concrete solution.  

The Supreme Court directed the Centre to carry out the meeting within three months and listed the matter for further hearing in April.  

Earlier, the top court had expressed concern, noting, "On the one hand, we find that there is always a shortage of super speciality doctors and on the other hand these precious seats remain unfilled." It had flagged the alarming situation of 1,003 super-speciality seats going to waste owing to a lack of admissions.