On Tuesday, April 12, the Madras High Court issued notice on a petition which was filed by as many as five doctors. This was regarding the cancellation of State Mop-Up Round Counselling held by Tamil Nadu for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Postgraduate (NEET-PG) admissions on the basis of the order by the Supreme Court cancelling the Mop-Up Rounds for All India Quota (AIQ).
As stated in a report by Live Law, a single bench of Justice Anita Sumanth issued notice to the state and it is on April 20, Wednesday, that the matter has been posted for next.
It may be recalled that it was on March 31 that the Supreme Court had ordered the cancellation of Mop-Up Round counselling for AIQ. This was after the top court made a note of anomalies in the addition of 146 new seats.
The Supreme Court had directed that, instead, a Special Round must be conducted for the fresh 146 seats, with opportunity for those aspirants who have not joined seats after counselling Round 2. It was only after the Special Round Counselling has been executed that the Mop-Up Round for AIQ was directed to be held.
Additionally, on April 7, another order was passed by the top court which permitted those students who had given up state quota seats before March 31 to re-join those seats by April 9.
Once the Mop-Up rounds for AIQ were cancelled, many states went on to cancel the Mop-Up rounds of State Quota seats. But, it is to be noted that Tamil Nadu is yet to cancel the Mop-Up rounds.
As per the petitioners, this would lead to an anomalous situation as this would result in meritorious aspirants being denied opportunities in State Quota seats.
It was argued that Tamil Nadu state's decision to not cancel the mop-up rounds, despite the cancellation of the AIQ Mop-Up rounds, is "manifestly arbitrary and unjust, as it dilutes the very concept of merit in admissions", reported Live Law.
Petitioners pointed out that the regular practice has been that first, the AIQ counselling for each round is conducted before the state counselling for such rounds. This is to ensure that the aspirants have the opportunity to seek State Quota seats in case they lose AIQ seats. Now because of Tamil Nadu's decision to not cancel State Mop-Up Rounds, this arrangement has been disturbed.
On behalf of the petitioners, advocates Suhrith Parthasarathy and G Sankaran appeared while advocate General R Shanmugasundaram represented the state.
