Counselling schedule for NEET courses not yet notified: Health ministry

The Union Health Ministry on Saturday clarified that the counselling schedule for NEET UG and PG courses for the year 2024 has not yet been notified by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC).

The counselling schedule for NEET UG and PG is announced by MCC, under the Directorate General of Health Services, on its website on the basis of the completion of the exam process and the finalisation of the seat matrix by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

In 2021, 2022 and 2023, the counselling for UG seats commenced on 19/1/2022, 11/10/2022 and 20/7/2023 respectively, the ministry said in a statement.

For the year 2024, NMC has communicated its schedule for finalisation of the seat matrix for UG and PG seats in the last week of June indicating that it will finalise the UG seat matrix by the third week of July and PG seat matrix by mid-August.

The MCC will accordingly notify the counselling schedule.

"Therefore, it is clarified that MCC has not yet notified the counselling schedule for the year 2024," the ministry said in the backdrop of reports claiming that the counselling for NEET-UG has been put off.

Amid growing clamour for cancellation of the controversy-ridden National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), 2024, over alleged malpractice, the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) told the Supreme Court on Friday that scrapping it without any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality would be counterproductive as it could "seriously jeopardise" lakhs of honest candidates.

The apex court last month refused to defer the counselling process. It was hearing a petition seeking a direction to pause the process for two days.

The NTA, which conducts NEET-UG for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses, and the Union education ministry have been at the centre of the row over alleged large-scale malpractice - ranging from question paper leaks to impersonation - in the test held on May 5.

In the line of fire, the Centre removed Subodh Singh as the NTA director general and notified a high-level panel headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through the agency.

While NEET-UG is under the scanner over several irregularities, the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) was cancelled after the education ministry received inputs that the integrity of the exam was compromised.

Both matters are being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Two other exams - CSIR-UGC NET and NEET-PG - were cancelled as a pre-emptive step. Fresh dates for both have been announced.