NEET PG: Punjab Government to Contest Re-casting of Merit in SC
- Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict ordering the re-casting the merit of PG medical admissions to be contested by Punjab Govt. in Supreme Court.
- Rural Medical Officers have been granted the same privilege as Punjab civil medical service government doctors.
After the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict ordering the re-casting the merit of PG medical admissions, the Government of Punjab is ready to contest the decision in the Supreme Court. According to the verdict of the respective High Court, 30% incentive will be given to rural medical doctors under the state quota on the basis of their NEET PG score.
Vikas Partap, Medical Education Secretary, Punjab, confirmed the decision and informed that a special leave petition (SLC) will be filed in the apex court.
The decision of the High Court came out when most of the seats in the state’s medical colleges had conducted admissions for their PG programmes. The counselling was conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot from April 13 to 15.
As a consequence of re-casting, the open category students will have to compete with PCMS and RMOs who have a greater advantage due to the 30% incentive. Since there are limited seats for PG courses, open category students will have fewer chances of securing seats.
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There are many students who have given up their seats through all-India quota in order to take admission through state quota. These students are worried that they might lose their seats after re-casting.
The order of the High Court came after the rural medical officers (RMOs) working at zila parishads’ subsidiary health centres filed a petition asking for incentives similar to those that are provided to Punjab civil medical service (PCMS) government doctors.
Under state admission rules, 50% seats are reserved for all-India category students whereas the other 50% seats are for the state domicile students. Amongst these 50% seats, 30% incentive is granted to PCMS government doctors at the time of admissions on the basis of NEET score in across all state government colleges.
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The same privilege is not provided for admission to the state’s private colleges. According to the court ruling, RMOs will get the same incentives. The reason behind these incentives was to encourage doctors to work in rural areas for six years and then continue working as specialists in government hospitals for 10 years once they have completed their PG courses.