E-Paper
MDS counseling to start on August 20, Centre tells Supreme Court
The SC bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and MR Shah had earlier observed that the Centre was “dilly dallying” on the issue of MDS counseling by showing scant regard to the future of young BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) doctors.
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the counseling for successful candidates of National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test for Masters of Dental 2020 will begin from August 20 this year and conclude by October 10 following the top court’s instruction to decide the counselling schedule for MDS admissions by Wednesday.
On the eve of the hearing, the Medical Counseling Committee (MCC) filed a short affidavit claiming that the delay was not intentional and the body had to take into account Union government’s decision to provide 27% and 10% reservation to students from the other backward classes (OBC) and economically weaker sections (EWS) respectively in the All India Quota seats of graduate and post-graduate medical and dental courses beginning this academic year.
“After the completion of discussion with all necessary stakeholders and the decision to provide reservation, the respondents have decided to conduct counseling from August 20 and will conclude on October 10, 2021as per the schedule annexed,” the MCC affidavit filed in SC said.
The bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and MR Shah had earlier observed that the Centre was “dilly dallying” on the issue by showing scant regard to the future of young BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) doctors. On Monday, the same bench noted that a week had elapsed since the announcement of quota in AIQ seats and still no decision was forthcoming on the counseling schedule.
The MCC affidavit responded by saying that the body was committed to conducting counseling at the earliest to safeguard the interest of the students.
There are 6,500 post-graduate dental seats to be filled for which MDS-NEET was held on December 16, 2020. The examination results were announced on December 31. As no counseling dates were announced, a petition was filed by nine MDS aspirants before the Supreme Court which issued notice on July 2 seeking response from the Medical Counseling Committee, Union health ministry, Dental Council of India and the National Board of Examinations.
The petition said that MDS counseling used to be held by March every year and the academic sessions commenced from May. However, the Central government had said in a response to a Right to Information (RTI) query that a proposal for conducting separate counseling for allotment of MDS seats was under consideration and the final outcome shall be available on the official website of MCC.
