Gujarat HC issues notice over conversion of NRI quota seats in PG medical admissions after first round of counselling

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court has issued a notice to the state govt and its medical admission committee after an MBBS aspirant questioned the conversion of NRI quota seats to management quota seats in postgraduate medical admissions in the state immediately after the first round of counselling.An aspirant of PG medical admission, Shubham Agrawal, filed a petition complaining that the state authorities do not adhere to the counselling rules for NEET-PG 2024, which stipulate that NRI seats should be converted into deemed university merit seats during the third round of counselling.The petition contended that in Gujarat, NRI seats are converted to management quota seats after the first round of counselling. This contradicts the uniform counselling conduct code mandated by a Supreme Court order, which emphasised the need for a standardised approach across the states regarding eligibility, mop-up rounds, seat withdrawal, and grievance timelines.

However, the state’s Admission Committee for Post-Graduate Medical Education Courses, which conducts the admission process for 85% of medical seats of the state quota, and the central govt are adopting two different sets of policies. As the state admission committee converts NRI quota seats to management quota seats after the first round, persons like him who are entitled to admission to PG Medical may be denied, the petitioner submitted.

After the preliminary hearing, Justice Nikhil Kariel issued a notice to the authorities and sought a reply by September 18 on the issue. The High Court said, “By the returnable date, the respondent – Admission Committee shall either file a reply or instruct learned advocate with regard to the aspects noted hereinabove.”