Students, colleges warned against blocking medical seats

HYDERABAD: Following complaints of blocking of management quota post-graduate medical seats, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and medical counselling committee (MCC) has warned students and colleges of stern action.

As the admission process for medical seats is underway, the Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) alleged that several meritorious students were blocking management quota seats. Seat blocking is a common practice every year among meritorious students, who opt for a seat during initial rounds of counselling and vacate it after securing better seats in other colleges during the subsequent rounds.


In its representation submitted to Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS), HRDA demanded constitution of a grievance redressal committee to curb blocking of management quota medical and dental seats. “Every phase of management quota counselling has to be conducted only after the reporting date of the corresponding convenor quota and after displaying vacant seats in seat matrix,” read the representation.

It further added that additional counselling round should be conducted for management quota seats after reporting date of convenor quota seats.

Following complaints, the DGHS has prevented candidates who have been allotted seat in round 2 from participating in further rounds of counselling. “It has come to notice of MCC, DGHS that some candidates/colleges are deliberately trying to block the seats by opting for the seats and not joining the allotted seats. MCC, DGHS is actively tracking/monitoring such candidates and colleges,” read the notice, adding that stern action will be initiated against those found blocking seats deliberately with malicious intent.

The HRDA fears that blocked seats vacated in subsequent round of counselling allows college managements to sell it at a higher price of upto Rs 2 to 3 crore to candidates with low rank. In its representation to the KNRUHS, the HRDA suggested that to avoid blocking of seats, original certificates must be withheld by the university instead of the college managements and should be released only after completion of counselling phases.