Vasudha Misra & Anuj Agrawal .In a major relief to medical aspirants, the Supreme Court of India ordered a combined counselling for all unfilled medical seats in Maharashtra. Yesterday’s order comes even as a similar order was passed a few days ago directing centralised counselling in Madhya Pradesh..A Bench of Justices AK Sikri and L Nageswara Rao ruled that the second and third round of counselling was intended to be a centralised counselling for all the deemed universities and not a university-wise counselling. Hence, the counselling would be conducted by a Committee of the State Government which shall include one representative each from these universities..The bone of contention is a Government Resolution (GR) issued on August 20 this year that mandated a centralised admission process. This process would be conducted by the State government. After the deemed universities challenged this GR, the Bombay High Court granted an interim stay, holding that universities have the right to admission as per a central legislation..It was this interim order that was challenged by the Maharashtra government in the Supreme Court. Senior Advocates P Chidambaran and AM Singhvi appearing for the deemed universities with senior counsel Shyam Diwan, appearing for the Maharashtra and Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar appearing for the Union of India..Without going into the merits of the case, the court made a series of directions in order to reach an “equitable solution” to the entire controversy. First, it vacated the interim stay granted by the Bombay High Court. However, this would not in any way disturb the admissions that have already been granted. .As for the future rounds of counselling, the same would be a “joint exercise”, which,.“[M]eans that it shall be done by the Committee of the State Government which shall include one representative each from these universities.”.The apex court also extended the deadline for the admissions process to October 7, in view of the fact that it would be impossible to complete the process by September 30. And lastly, the court also expressed “hope” that the NEET matter in the Bombay High Court would proceed on a day-to-day basis.In the second petition, that concerning admissions in Kerala, the court refused to interfere in the admissions already completed. The matter will now be taken up by the Kerala High Court.
Vasudha Misra & Anuj Agrawal .In a major relief to medical aspirants, the Supreme Court of India ordered a combined counselling for all unfilled medical seats in Maharashtra. Yesterday’s order comes even as a similar order was passed a few days ago directing centralised counselling in Madhya Pradesh..A Bench of Justices AK Sikri and L Nageswara Rao ruled that the second and third round of counselling was intended to be a centralised counselling for all the deemed universities and not a university-wise counselling. Hence, the counselling would be conducted by a Committee of the State Government which shall include one representative each from these universities..The bone of contention is a Government Resolution (GR) issued on August 20 this year that mandated a centralised admission process. This process would be conducted by the State government. After the deemed universities challenged this GR, the Bombay High Court granted an interim stay, holding that universities have the right to admission as per a central legislation..It was this interim order that was challenged by the Maharashtra government in the Supreme Court. Senior Advocates P Chidambaran and AM Singhvi appearing for the deemed universities with senior counsel Shyam Diwan, appearing for the Maharashtra and Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar appearing for the Union of India..Without going into the merits of the case, the court made a series of directions in order to reach an “equitable solution” to the entire controversy. First, it vacated the interim stay granted by the Bombay High Court. However, this would not in any way disturb the admissions that have already been granted. .As for the future rounds of counselling, the same would be a “joint exercise”, which,.“[M]eans that it shall be done by the Committee of the State Government which shall include one representative each from these universities.”.The apex court also extended the deadline for the admissions process to October 7, in view of the fact that it would be impossible to complete the process by September 30. And lastly, the court also expressed “hope” that the NEET matter in the Bombay High Court would proceed on a day-to-day basis.In the second petition, that concerning admissions in Kerala, the court refused to interfere in the admissions already completed. The matter will now be taken up by the Kerala High Court.
