Supreme Court Slams NEET-PG Seat-Blocking Calls for Systemic Reforms to Protect Merit

The Supreme Court criticised the seat-blocking practice in NEET-PG counselling, calling it unfair and symptomatic of systemic issues like weak governance and lack of transparency.

The Court noted that candidates often accept multiple seats as backups, later vacating them, harming genuine aspirants.

The Court issued ten directives: a synchronized counselling calendar, pre-counselling fee disclosures, centralized fee regulation, post-round upgrade options, full score transparency, Aadhaar-based tracking, penalties for seat-blocking, blacklisting colleges, and third-party audits.

The court also revised compensation to 2017–18 aspirants from ₹10 lakh to ₹1 lakh each, stressing the need for fairness in PG medical admissions.