MP High court halts PG Medical counselling process, directs DME to maintain NRI quota status

Bhopal: The PG medical counselling for MD, MS and Diploma courses at private and government medical colleges across Madhya Pradesh has been halted by the State High Court.

The HC bench of honorable Justices Justice R S Jha and Sanjay Dwivedi, in its observation, has also directed the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) to maintain the status of NRI (Non-Resident Indian) quota seats as it exists as of now till the next hearing on the matter, which has been scheduled to May 3, 2019.

The confirmation to the stay placed by the HC comes via recent notice uploaded on the official website of DME Madhya Pradesh; in which it is clearly stated; (translated from Hindi to English)

"Based on the orders given by HC Jabalpur in WP 6509-2019 dated 30-04-2019, the MP NEET PG counselling for MD, MS and Diploma courses, has now been halted till May 3^rd 2019.

All the concerned aspirants have been advised to keep on checking the website for further details."

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According to a recent report by TOI, the decision to halt the counselling was taken in view of a petition filed by Association of Private Medical Colleges, MP which had challenged the proposed action of DME of converting 15 % of NRI seats in private medical colleges into general category seats.

The association contended that the DME's decision to convert 15% NRI quota seats to general category from the second round of counselling as a violation of the directives laid down by the Supreme Court, and also of their fundamental rights under Articles 14 & 19 of the Constitution of India.

The Association stated that in PG medical course, seats in every quota are fixed. The definition of NRI quota is clear, then how can they can be converted to general? The quota of seats should be filled with the said quota only, reports Bhaskar.

After hearing the contentions, the HC stayed the PG medical counselling and ordered DME to maintain status quo of NRI seats in the state's Private and Government medical colleges.

Speaking to TOI following the issuance of High Court stay, the counsels who appeared for the private medical institutes during the hearing said that the court's directive means that the ongoing counselling for admission into PG courses of medical and dental colleges would be stalled till the issue is resolved or stay granted by the court till next hearing is lifted.

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Seat allotment list of Round 2 PG medical counselling was to be published on April 30.

There are about 429 seats remaining in government and private medical colleges of MP. Of these 59 NRI seats, 39 are vacant, adds TOI.