SC approves online counselling for PG medical seats

Updated on: Saturday, March 24, 2012

In a major relief to thousands of medical students, the Supreme Court on Friday approved the Centre's proposal for their online counselling for admissions to post graduate medical courses against all India quota in government colleges, except those in Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh.

The move would benefit an estimated 25,000 students vying for 5,245 post graduate medical and 168 Master of Dental Surgery seats in the present 2012-13 academic year.

A bench of justices Deepak Verma and K S Radhakrishnan passed the order after hearing senior counsel Ashok Bhan who urged the court to grant permission for conducting the online counselling from May 1, 2012.

The competitive examination for All India quota (50 per cent) seats in government colleges is conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

For 15 per cent All India seats of undergraduate (MBBS and BDS courses), the examination is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Bhan told the court that the government had taken all steps for publicising the online counselling through the print and electronic media besides the official websites.

According to the Centre, the proposed online counselling will not make it imperative for the students to rush to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Kolkota and they can opt their choice through the internet even while sitting at their homes.

This would enable the students save time, efforts and money which they otherwise had to utilise earlier for visiting the four metros where it is conducted every year. The counsel said the National Informatic Centre had developed the software for the counselling programme.

The Centre had sought similar permission for conducting online counselling for the undergraduate medical courses on which the court did not pass any order on Friday.

The Centre told the apex court that the identification of seats will be done by arranging them in alphabetical order, besides state-wise and college-wise order.

It said the seats are proposed to be reserved for various categories like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Physically Handicapped categories in the Central government institutions as per the rules.

The government further said presently there are only two rounds of counselling with participation of lesser number of students on the basis of a 1:4 ratio for post graduate courses and 1:2 for the under graduate courses.

It added by introducing the online method with three rounds of counselling, it expects to ensure "better utilisation of all-India quota PG and UG seats and minimum wastage of All India quota."

SC approves online counselling for PG medical seats

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