Acknowledging the significant number of vacant medical seats even after five rounds of counselling, the Supreme Court has extended the deadline for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test Under Graduate (NEET-UG) admission process to be completed before December 30, 2024 in any eventuality as a special measure.

The Division bench, comprising Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K.V. Vishwanathan, issued the directive, highlighting India’s acute shortage of doctors. Considering submissions from the Petitioners the bench instructed the Admission Authorities to conduct a special round of counselling to ensure that the remaining medical seats are filled.

“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 court stated.

The Admission Authorities have been instructed to conduct a fresh stray or special counselling session for the remaining vacant seats, ensuring the admission process is completed before December 30, 2024.

The Court has further directed some guidelines, emphasizing that no college is allowed to admit students independently, and all admissions must be conducted exclusively through state Admission Authorities. It was further clarified that the special counselling process should not disrupt admissions that have already been finalized, and new admissions must only be made from the waitlisted candidates. Additionally, any vacant NRI seats will be converted into the General Category Quota and filled through the State Admission Authorities.

Accordingly, the petition was disposed-of.

Case Title: Era Lucknow Medical College And Hospital V. The State Of Uttar Pradesh & Ors., W.P. (C) No. 833/2024

Advocate’s For Petitioners: Senior Advocate Devashish Bharuka, Sr. Adv. Siddhartha Dave, Sr. Adv. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv. Guarav Sharma, Sr. Adv. P. Vishwanatha Shetty, Mr.Vaibhav Choudhary (AOR), Adv. Tushar Jain, Adv. Charulata Choudhary, Adv. Anu B, ors

Advocate’s For Respondents: Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, Additional Solicitor General Vikramjeet Bannerjee, ors