NEET PG Counselling 2021: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya today announced that counselling for NEET PG 2021 would begin on January 12.
In a tweet, Mandaviya said the counselling would start from Wednesday following an order by the Supreme Court and as assured by the ministry to resident doctors.
The minister added that this would strengthen India’s fight against the coronavirus, which has begun to spread at a rapid pace following the emergence of the Omicron variant.
The National Board of Medical Examinations in Medical Sciences declared the NEET PG result on September 28. It was scheduled to begin the counselling process in October, but a stay order by Supreme Court delayed the process.
The top court stay order had come after a petition argued that the Centre decided the criteria for reservation based on inadequate study. They also claimed that admissions to postgraduate medical courses should have minimal reservation and be merit-based.
On Friday, the apex court upheld the constitutional validity of the government’s 27% reservation for OBC candidates in both NEET UG and NEET PG. A 10% reservation for students from the economically weaker section will remain in place this year. The Supreme Court will decide on the criteria following a final hearing on March 3.
The bench of Justice AS Bopanna and Justice DY Chandrachud said during the hearing that NEET PG counselling should be resumed in the national interest.
The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association, which had led the protests by resident and junior doctors across the country against the delays in counselling also welcomed the top court verdict. The association had also joined the court case and its lawyer had said during hearing that if the new postgraduate batch was not immediately admitted, the section of the workforce that included postgraduate students could decline to 33% of its strength amid the third Covid-19 wave.
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