New Delhi, 18th November 2022: The open round of INI-CET counselling has come to an end, leaving 454 seats in medical programs vacant. On Thursday (November 18), the Supreme Court expressed concern about the same
The Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI-CET) is required for admission to some All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and other medical schools’ Post Graduate (PG) programs.
INI-CET is administered by AIIMS, New Delhi. According to a petition heard by a panel of Justices S K Kaul and A S Oka, a notice was sent by the institute on September 19 this year indicating its decision to cancel the open round for INI-CET July 2022 session.
The bench said orally, “We do feel that seats should not go vacant. What is bothering us is that stoppage of the open round has resulted in 454 seats becoming vacant.”
The AIIMS stated in an affidavit submitted to the court that the INI-CET admissions procedure was completed on August 31, 2022.
According to the report, three of the five petitioners received offers of seats in the second round of counselling. The affidavit stated that despite being required to fill choices for the subjects or disciplines that they genuinely desired to pursue, these three petitioners made a “calculated risk” by choosing not to accept those seats after the second round of counselling and by continuing to look for other opportunities.
The statement read, “It is humbly submitted that the petitioners, having suffered the consequences of their own poor decision making, cannot now claim an additional round of INI-CET counselling as a matter of right. This would disrupt the general admissions process and adversely affect patient care activities as a result of the special treatment sought to be meted out to the petitioners.”
The petition asks that the Centre and other parties, including AIIMS, be instructed to conduct the remaining INI-CET counselling sessions as soon as possible.