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A Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Sanjeev Khanna and Surya Kant today dismissed a plea moved by students who had resigned from the seats secured by them in the second round of State Quota Counselling, seeking permission to participate in the fresh Mop-Up round. The plea was filed by students from Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Court, however, allowed these students to 'rejoin' the State Quota seats that they have resigned by April 9, 2022. While dismissing the plea, Court remarked that there cannot be an absolutely foolproof system and that orders have to attain finality at some point in time.

Court said that if the court keeps interfering in such matters, it will lead to a domino effect as other candidates would seek to redress their grievances the same way.

The counsel for the petitioners had urged the court to clarify that the order of Supreme Court dated March 31, 2022 where it was held that students who have joined in the second round of counselling of the State Quota will not be eligible to participate in the new counselling will be applicable to students who were holding their seats and not those who had resigned from them.

On the other hand, the Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the MCC had submitted that the petitioners were indirectly seeking a review of the earlier order of the Supreme Court and that granting this prayer would amount to disrupting the counselling process.

Supreme Court on 31st March 2022 had set aside the All India Quota Mop Up round NEET-PG counselling. Court had directed that the 146 new government college seats that were made available for the Mop-Up round of counselling be redistributed by a new round of counselling.

Court has also directed that students who have not joined the counselling in the second round in both the State quota and the All India quota will be eligible to participate in the fresh round of counselling and that the fee they have paid will not be forfeited. Court had further held that students who have joined in the second round of counselling of the State Quota will not be eligible to participate in the new counselling.

Case title: Dr. Suraj Shete Vs Medical Counselling Committee