The Supreme Court has directed the State of Tamil Nadu to inform the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) about 151 vacant super-speciality medical seats that remained unfilled so that they can be allotted through the All India Merit List in the ongoing NEET-SS 2025 counselling process.
The Bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe passed the direction while disposing of a writ petition seeking the surrender of unfilled Doctorate of Medicine (DM) and Master of Chirurgiae (M.Ch.) seats from the Tamil Nadu State Quota to the All India Quota.
The Court noted that all parties were in agreement that the matter could be disposed of in terms of its earlier judgment in N. Karthikeyan and Others v. State of Tamil Nadu. In that case, the Supreme Court had permitted the State to fill seats reserved under a Government Order dated November 7, 2020, and had further directed that any seats remaining vacant after completion of the prescribed admission process could be filled by the Union Government on the basis of the All India Merit List.
The earlier 2022 judgment had also required the State Government to notify the Union Government regarding unfilled in-service category super speciality seats after completion of the State admission process so that such vacancies could be utilised for eligible candidates on the national merit list.
Relying on the principles laid down in the earlier decision, the Court directed the State of Tamil Nadu to take necessary steps to communicate details of the 151 unfilled seats to the Director General of Health Services. The Bench accordingly disposed of the writ petition.
The petitioners had sought a direction to the State Government to surrender all vacant super speciality seats under the State Quota to the All India Quota and to ensure that such seats were included in the second round of NEET-SS 2025 counselling. Alternatively, they had sought an additional round of counselling to accommodate the reverted seats and permit eligible candidates to compete for admission on the basis of the All India Merit List.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General S.D. Sanjay submitted that the existing cut-off applicable on the date of counselling would continue to govern the admission process unless any modification became necessary in the course of implementation.
After considering the submissions and the consensus among the parties, the Supreme Court directed Tamil Nadu to notify the DGHS regarding the 151 vacant super speciality seats so that further steps could be taken for allotment through the All India counselling process.
The Court clarified that the order had been passed in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case and shall not be treated as a precedent for future matters.
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