Madhya Pradesh High Court Stay On NEET PG Phase-II Seat Allotment, Orders Registration Reopening

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The principal bench of Jabalpur High Court, on Monday, issued a stay on the seat allotment for the second phase of NEET PG counselling 2024. The court also directed that the registration portal for the second phase be reopened for petitioners who are now eligible to participate in the counselling.

The division bench, comprising Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice Anuradha Shukla, issued the order while hearing the petition filed by Dr. Ayush Srivastava and 14 other doctors. The petitioners challenged the exclusion from the counselling process, citing the recent reduction in the qualifying percentile for eligibility.

On January 4, 2025, the NEET PG counselling criteria were revised, reducing the qualifying percentile for General and EWS candidates to 15, and for reserved category candidates to 10.

This revision made a number of candidates who were previously deemed ineligible now eligible to participate in the second phase of the counselling. The second phase of NEET PG counselling commenced on January 1, with the seat allocation results scheduled for January 7.

However, candidates who had been previously excluded from counselling due to their earlier ineligibility but now meet the new criteria filed a petition seeking inclusion in the ongoing second phase. Representing the petitioners, Advocate Alok Wagrecha and Advocate Vishal Baghel argued that denying eligible candidates’ participation in the counselling violated their constitutional rights.

In contrast, Additional Advocate General Jahnvi Pandit, presenting the government’s case, argued that since the second phase of counselling was nearly complete, the newly eligible candidates could only be included in the upcoming mop-up round.