PG medical admission counseling | Once seat is allotted under AIQ, candidate can’t claim state quota: HC

Srinagar, Nov 2: Once a candidate joins in 3rd round of counseling in All India Quota and is allocated a seat in PG medical course he or she cannot be allowed to resign from the 3rd round and allowed to participate in further rounds of counseling for admission under state quota, High Court of J&K and Ladakh has ruled.

A bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar held this while dismissing a petition wherein a candidate was seeking direction for granting admission to her in Post-graduation course in Anatomy in Government Medical College,
Srinagar, based on her choice and ranking.

The case of the petitioner was that in the NEET PG examination she was allotted a seat in PG Anatomy in Government Medical College, Jammu, in 3rd round of counselling conducted by Medical Counselling Committee for All India Quota. Thereafter, she responded to a notice dated 27.09.2023 issued by the J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examination(BOPEE), expressing her willingness to participate in 3rd Mop-up round of counselling against the seats that had remained unfilled during 3rd round of counselling under the State quota.

The petitioner appeared before the BOPEE officials and gave her choice to take up admission in PG Anatomy in GMC, Srinagar. But she was informed that she could not be granted admission in PG Anatomy in GMC, Srinagar, as she had already been selected in PG Anatomy in GMC, Jammu.

The contention of the petitioner was that there was no Rule, Regulation or Instruction in vogue that would disentitle a person who was allotted a seat in All India Quota in 3rd round of counselling from participating in counselling for allotment of a seat under State quota. On this ground, the petitioner said, the action of the respondents (authorities) was not sustainable in law. The court was to consider the question as to whether “a candidate whose name figures in the list of ‘joined candidates’ upto 3rd round of PG counselling in All India Quota is entitled to participate in counselling for admission to Post-graduation, 2023, under State quota”

Relying on Clause 1.5 of Chapter 1 of the Information Bulletin & Counselling Scheme for NEEt- PG (MD/MS/DNB/MDS) Counselling, 2023, the Court said: “ ….. it is clear that once a candidate joins in 3rd round of counselling in All India Quota, he/she cannot be allowed to resign from the 3rd round and he/she cannot be allowed to participate in further rounds of counselling after joining in 3rd round of counselling of All India Quota”.

The Court also noted that the notice dated 12th July, 2022, issued by the Government of India, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare indicated that those candidates who had joined upto round 2nd of All India Quota or State quota would not be eligible to participate in further rounds for All India Quota or State quota from the academic year 2022- 23 onwards.
In response to the contention that the petitioner had been allocated seat in 3rd round of counselling of All India Quota but the notice made a mention about the joining of candidates upto round 2nd of All

India Quota only, the court said: “ The notice dated 12th July, 2022 provides for participation of those candidates in the counselling who have not joined upto 2nd round, meaning thereby that the candidates who have joined in 2nd round of counselling or thereafter either in All India Quota or State quota can in no circumstances be allowed to participate in further rounds of counselling in All India Quota or in State quota”.

“The position of the petitioner, who has joined in 3rd round of counselling in All India Quota, is even worse than the candidates who have joined upto 2nd round of counselling. Therefore, she could not have been allowed to participate in the counselling after she had joined in the 3rd round of counselling in the All India Quota.”