HC Stays NEET Counseling for filling super speciality medicine seats

HYDERABAD: In a significant development, the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday stayed the common national level counselling under NEET for filling the Super Speciality Medicine seats in AP and Telangana medical colleges and gave an interim finding that the central authorities cannot impose a common national level counselling on Telangana and Andhra Pradesh States.

This is because of the Presidential Order issued under Article 371-D of the Constitution which allows both these states to fill all the medicine seats available under their health universities and medical colleges with local candidates of AP and Telangana.

The special provision made by the President is so powerful that it need not recognise any new rules brought in and when there is a clash between the new rules and the 371-D, it is the latter that prevails ultimately. Even Supreme Court has held this view once and hence we cannot hold a different view now, said the bench of Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice T Rajani while hearing a petition filed by Dr B Satish Kumar of Hyderabad and 11 others.

The petitioners contended that the seats available with the medical colleges falling under the purview of NTR Health University in AP and Kaloji Narayana Rao Health University in Telangana must be filled with only the local candidates of these twin states and students Sent from my iPhone

The bench in its interim order said that both the NTR and Kaloji Varsities too believe they need not be bound by the national counselling under NEET in view of the Article 371-D. The bench said that though it has its own reservations on the issue but made it clear that they too are bound by the law as it exists today.

The process of nationalisation through rationalisation should not be scuttled by any regional sentiments, the bench said adding, however, that they have no alternative except to follow the law as it stands today. The law today is in favour of 371-D and hence we direct the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to put on hold the common counselling for Super Speciality Medicine Seats, the bench said. The bench sought a counter from the centre, its National Board of Exams and the DGHS to file their counters within one week and posted the case to August 23 for further hearing.