Supreme Court Allows OCI to Participate in NEET 2021-22 General Category Counselling

The Supreme Court allowed all eligible OCI candidates to take part in the NEET counselling for the general category. However, a bench comprising Justices SA Nazeer and Krishna Murari stated that this is only valid for the 2021-2022 academic year. 

All the eligible candidates who are similarly situated can appear in the counselling for the general category at par with the Indian citizens to pursue BDS/ MBBS and other UG/ PG courses in approved medical, dental and other colleges. The court had passed this order on a plea filed by the OCI candidates who challenged a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs to treat them at par with the NRIs for NEET admission. The SC told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati that the NTA and the counselling authorities are duty-bound to implement this order. 

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The court emphasised that this is only for 2021-22. After hearing the matter at length, the court passed the interim order only because of the sudden notification. If the notification would have been issued 8-9 months earlier then such an order would not have been passed.

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NEET counselling will be conducted for 15% AIQ seats under UG admission and 50% AIQ of all states under PG admission. The participation of J and K is subject to their contribution of seats. Candidates are expected to pay non-refundable counselling fees and refundable tuition fees to go ahead with the NEET 2021 counselling registration.