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As of now, the MCC of the DGHS has not come out with the counselling dates and the time table for NEET UG and NEET PG for the academic session 2024. Because of this, the counselling for the NEET UG 2024 has been indefinitely suspended, starting with the AIQ seat counselling scheduled for July 6. It comes after the apex court declined to stall the NEET UG counselling, which was scheduled to commence on the same day.
Regarding the NEET UG 2024, the Supreme Court of India is set to hear multiple petitions led by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on 8/7/22. These petitions involve allegations of leakage of papers, prayer seeking for the annulment and re- conducting of the whole examination and public objections on the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The counselling of NEET UG is also done in several phases, such as stray vacancy round and mop-up round. It is made for the students that passed the medical entrance examination. The candidates having the credentials must first register themselves, then pay the admission fees, make their choices, get them locked, upload few important documents, and finally physically join the institutes they have chosen.
Counselling for NEET UG within the Twenty five percent Judges Quota is available in government medical colleges, central and deemed universities, and positions defined for Insured Persons (IP) control in the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) medical seats. It also contain seat sharing at the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) conducted in Pune.
Lately, the NTA made an announcement concerning the list of 813 candidates of 1,563 that sat for a retest on June 23. The new findings revealed that the number of published papers by the top scorer reduced from 67 to 61. This reduction was as a result of six candidates, who along with others recorded the full scale of 720/720, as as a result of grace marks given to cover time lost during examination, performing poorly in the recheck examination. Nevertheless, the above people sustained a higher pass score of more than 680.
As much as another batch of students are waiting for their counselling to begin, MCC is yet to notify the counselling schedule.
The MCC which comes under the DGHS has not yet released any counseling schedule regarding NEET UG as well as PG for the session 2024. The MCC thereafter, declares the counselling schedule invariably on its website after the completion of the examination process and formation of the seat matrix by the National Medical Commission (NMC) only.
Earlier, the counseling for the UG seats started on January 19, 2022, October 11, 2022, and July 20, 2023, respectively for each year. As for the year 2024, the NMC has confirmed its time line for the determination of the seat matrix for UG and PG last week of June only. The NMC pointed out that the final Master and Under Graduate seat matrix shall be announced by 3rd week of July whereas the PG seat matrix shall be announced around mid of August. In this regard, the MCC will communicate the counseling time table once these matrices are set out.
Thus, it is explained that the MCC has not announced the counselling timetable for admission to PG medical and dental programmes in the academic year 2024. The time taken for the counselling to commence has left some students in the dark due to anticipation that the process was soon to commence. This delay can be explained by the continuous increased legal concerns and the Supreme Court cases that await conclusions.
NEET UG 2024 counselling effects on aspiring medical students are evident as the counselling continues to be postponed. Most students have anticipated this period because the counselling process forms an important ingredient to the offer of the medical college seat. This implies that students spend more time waiting to get their admission status which is rather stressing.
As per the decisions made by the MCC and Supreme Court regarding the counselling procedure, students have to know the changes carried out. The person should frequently visit the official website of MCC and must be ready to respond immediately after the new schedule is launched online.
The next year of counselling of NEET UG 2024 further depends on the directions being taken by the Supreme Court on the pending petitions and the Seat Matrix Standardisation notified by the NMC. Hence, while the legal and administrating procedures go through with the process, the students and all stakeholders have to be patient for any new changes occurring on the schedule.
In the midst of all these, the actual start of the NEET UG counselling will be a great day for many of the medical students. Thus, it is a significant decision that will take them closer to ensuring they gain an opportunity to practice medicine.
To sum up, the current disturbances and challenges caused by the NEET UG 2024 counselling may have established problems and uncertainties, but the students should be adequately prepared for the continuation of the counselling sessions. However, the MCC will inform the new counselling schedule once the legal and administrative processes will be done. In the meantime students should prepare themselves and not be pessimistic about the future and its possibilities.
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IIT-Delhi, IIM-Lucknow
IIT Delhi. 14+ Years of experience as Academics Head & Mentor
