Srinagar: There would be no pooling of MBBS and MD/MS seats by J&K in the All-India Quota this year, the Government said today, much to the relief of aspirants who had sought deferment of the move and retention of the entire seats for the local candidates this year.
Additional Chief Secretary to J&K Government (Health and Medical Education), Vivek Bhardwaj said that there would be no seat pooling in All India Quota this year as desired by the Lieutenant Governor.
He said the matter of seat pooling postponement had been taken up with the Union Government and considering the concerns shared by the aspirants with the Government, the decision to pool seats has been deferred till next academic year. “This will apply for both Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses,” he said, adding that the Government had acknowledged and attempted to address the difficulties the students have faced due to the Pandemic.
Earlier, J&K Government had said that as per the norm and Supreme Court orders, 15 percent of MBBS seats in the medical colleges of J&K would be pooled in the All-India Quota. In addition, 50 percent of the post graduate seats would also be shared in the All-India Quota. This would also imply that aspirants of UG and PG medical courses in J&K would be able to stake claim at the seats from across the medical colleges of India. The decision to pool seats had raised concerns among aspirants about having a lesser number of seats in J&K to compete for.
A delegation of MD/MS aspirants had met LG and sought his intervention to delay the AIQ seat sharing.
The NEET UG examination was conducted on 12 September and the results are expected to be declared soon given that the Supreme Court of India has stayed an order by Bombay High Court that has asked for re-examination for two aspirants who had faced mixing up of OMR sheets in Maharashtra.
The results will be followed by counseling by states and UTs, while the Medical Counseling Committee (MCC) will carry out counseling for AIQ.
Regarding the request to seek deferment of AIQ pooling, the LG’s official Twitter Handle had tweeted: “Met NEET Post-Graduate MD/MS aspirants today. Listened to their concerns about UT’s participation in all India quota in the current year. Students sought more time for preparation. Considering their petition, I’ll request the central government to defer it for the current year.” He had added, “It (deferment) will allow the aspirant more time for preparation. They will be in advantageous position and eligible for 5000 seats in MD/MS under AIQ from existing UT seats of 543. Undergraduate students will have access to a larger pool of 4568 seats instead of existing 1000 seats.”