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Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur

Pacific Institute Of Medical Sciences vs Chairman, Neet Pg Medical And Dental ... on 28 March, 2026

Author: Farjand Ali

Bench: Farjand Ali

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      HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
                       JODHPUR
                 S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 7083/2026

1.       Pacific Medical College And Hospital, Bhilon Ka Bedla,
         Udaipur, Rajasthan Through Its Authorized Representative
         Puneet Makhija S/o Shri Mohan Makhija Aged 38 Years R/
         o Pacific Hills, Pratap Nagar, Airport Road Udaipur (Raj).
2.       Tirupati Balaji Educational Trust, Bhilon Ka Bedla, Udaipur,
         Rajasthan Through Its Authorized Representative Puneet
         Makhija S/o Shri Mohan Makhija Aged 38 Years R/o Pacific
         Hills, Pratap Nagar, Airport Road Udaipur (Raj).
                                                                   ----Petitioners
                                    Versus
1.       Chairman,    Neet     Pg     Medical       And      Dental   Admission/
         Counseling Board-2025 And Principal And Controller, Sms
         Medical College And Attached Hospitals, Jaipur
2.       Union Of India, Through Its Secretary, Ministry Of Health
         And Family Welfare, Dental Education Section, Nirman
         Bhawan, P.o. And P.s. New Delhi.
3.       National Medical Commission, Through Its Secretary
         General, Pocket 14, Sector 18, Dwarka Phase-I, New
         Delhi-110077.
                                                                 ----Respondents
                              connected with


                 S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 7086/2026

 1.       Pacific Institute Of Medical Sciences, Having Its Campus
          At Ambua Road, Village- Umarda Udaipur, Through Its
          Authorized Representative Rais Mohammed Khan S/o
          Sardar Mohammed Khan, Age-50 Years, R/o 31, Nag
          Marg, Bhinder Ki Haveli, Outside Chandpole, Udaipur.
 2.       Sai Tirupati University, Having Its Office At 4, Fatehpura,
          Udaipur Through Its Authorized Representative Rais
          Mohammed Khan S/o Sardar Mohammed Khan, Age-50
          Years, R/o 31, Nag Marg, Bhinder Ki Haveli, Outside
          Chandpole, Udaipur.
                                                                  ----Petitioners
                                    Versus


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 1.       Chairman, Neet Pg Medical And Dental Admission/
          Counseling Board-2025 And Principal And Controller,
          Sms Medical College And Attached Hospitals, Jaipur
 2.       Union Of India, Through Its Secretary, Ministry Of
          Health And Family Welfare, Dental Education Section,
          Nirman Bhawan, P.o. And P.s. New Delhi.
 3.       National Medical Commission, Through Its Secretary
          General, Pocket 14, Sector 18, Dwarka Phase-I, New
          Delhi-110077.
                                                                 ----Respondents


For Petitioner(s)         :     Mr.Vikas Balia,Sr.Adv.
                                Assisted by Mr. Hemant Kumar Balani
                                Mr.Harsh Chittora
                                Mr.Jayant Pitawat
For Respondent(s)         :     Mr.B.S.Sodha
                                for Mr. N.S. Rajpurohit,AAG



                HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE FARJAND ALI

Order

28/03/2026

1. The petitioners have preferred the present writ petitions with

following prayer-

(i) The respondent authority may kindly be directed to issue

appropriate directions for conducting the Special Stray vacancy

round at the institutional level with due information to the

designated authority.

(ii)In the alternate, the respondent authority may kindly be

directed to conduct counselling for filling the remaining vacant

seats Post Graduate Seats in petitioner's college for academic

year 2025-2026.

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(iii)The respondent authority may kindly be directed to issue

revise schedule for conducting special round of counselling

(iv)Any further or other orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit

and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case may passed

in favor of petitioner foundation.

2. Detailed facts of the writ petitions are not required to be

narrated for adjudication of the present issue.

3. Both the present writ petitions have been preferred by

private medical institutions established and administered by

their respective sponsoring bodies, seeking substantially

similar reliefs. The petitioner institutions are duly recognized

medical colleges running undergraduate (MBBS) and

postgraduate (PG) medical courses with requisite

permissions granted by the Central Government under the

applicable statutory framework. Over the years, the intake

capacity of MBBS as well as PG courses in the petitioner

institutions has been enhanced, and at present, the

institutions are running PG courses in multiple disciplines

with substantial sanctioned intake.

4. The petitioners, having fulfilled all eligibility requirements,

were granted permission to commence Postgraduate medical

courses pursuant to the regulatory regime governed initially

by the Medical Council of India and now by the National

Medical Commission. The admissions to such PG courses for

the academic session 2025-2026 were conducted through

the NEET-PG 2025 examination, followed by centralized

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counselling conducted by the State Counselling Board,

Rajasthan, in multiple rounds, including first, second, third,

and stray vacancy rounds, which concluded on 27.02.2026.

5. It is not in dispute that despite completion of all rounds of

counselling, a substantial number of PG seats have remained

vacant across the State, including a significant number of

seats in the petitioner institutions. In S.B. Civil Writ Petition

No. 7083/2026, 79 seats out of the total sanctioned PG

intake remained vacant, whereas in S.B. Civil Writ Petition

No. 7086/2026, as many as 169 seats out of 225 sanctioned

PG seats remained unfilled. The last date for admission as

per the NEET-PG schedule was 28.02.2026.

6. The grievance of the petitioners in both the writ petitions is

that despite the settled legal position that medical seats,

particularly in postgraduate courses, ought not to remain

unfilled, the respondent authorities have not conducted any

further counselling or special stray vacancy round to fill the

remaining seats. It is contended that the Hon'ble Supreme

Court, as well as various High Courts, have consistently

emphasized that such seats should not go waste and have,

in similar circumstances, permitted or directed conduct of

institutional-level stray vacancy rounds. In these

circumstances, the petitioners have approached this Court

seeking directions to the respondent authorities to permit

conduct of a special stray vacancy round at the institutional

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level for filling up the remaining vacant PG seats for the

academic session 2025-2026.

7. Heard learned counsels present for the parties and gone

through the materials available on record.

Observation

8. It is a well-settled principle of law that seats in postgraduate

medical courses ought not to remain unfilled and must not

be allowed to go to waste. However, in the present case, the

State Counselling Board has failed to declare any counselling

schedule for filling up the remaining vacant seats.

9. In this factual backdrop, the Federation of Private Medical

Colleges preferred a Special Leave Petition before the

Hon'ble Supreme Court. The Hon'ble Supreme Court, while

disposing of the said petition, was pleased to direct the

Federation to submit an appropriate representation before

the Central Government, which, in turn, was directed to

consider and decide the same on its own merits,

expeditiously, in accordance with law (Annex.10).

10.In compliance with the aforesaid order dated 25.03.2026, a

representation was duly submitted to the Central

Government on the same day i.e. 25.03.2026, setting out

the position of the vacant seats. It was, in particular,

emphasized that non-filling of such seats would be

prejudicial to the national interest as well as to the interests

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of meritorious candidates, who would otherwise be deprived

of admission and consequently lose an entire academic year.

11.It is further pertinent to note that, while dealing with

analogous issues, the Hon'ble High Court of Bombay, vide

judgment dated 12.03.2026 (Annex.12), has been pleased to

direct the conduct of a stray vacancy round at the

institutional level.

12.Thereafter, a writ petition came to be instituted before the

Hon'ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Indore, wherein,

vide order dated 26.03.2026, the Court was pleased to pass

the following directions. The relevant extract of the said

order is reproduced hereinbelow:

"Counsel for the petitioners argued that as per

schedule of the counseling, the last date for admission

in the P.G. course is 31.03.2026 and after the said

date, the petition may render infructuous.

The operative part of the order passed by Bombay

High Court in W.P.No. 3058/2026 is reproduced

herein

"5. We have considered the submissions. There is no

order passed by the Supreme Court till date which

comes in the way of this Court passing a similar order

as has been passed in Writ Petitions which concerns

UG Course and PG Course including Writ Petition filed

by Dr. N.Y. Tasgaonkar Institute of Medical Science by

way of Writ Petition No. 2668 of 2026 (order dated 26

February 2026). A similar ad-interim Application had

been made in those cases. This Court has already

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taken a prima facie view with regard to Rule 14

pertaining to PG Course and challenge to the circular

dated 24 July 2023 which had prohibited filling of

vacancies to Institutional Round. This Court has prima

facie held that the said circular was in the form of an

Executive Instruction and could not operate in a

manner that would run counter to the said Rule which

permits holding of Institutional Level Rounds. The

prima facie view expressed by this Court would

equally apply here. This in view of, there being vacant

seats which are to be filled up by the petitioner

Institutions in the given/captioned matters.

6. We direct the respondent No.5-State CET Cell to

take necessary steps to act in accordance with Rule

14 of the said Rules framed under the Maharashtra

Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions

(Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015 for

filling up the vacant seats by the Petitioner

Institutions after the CAP Rounds/Stray vacancy

Rounds which have come to an end. This be done with

prior approval of the Competent Authority not later

than one week from the uploading of this order.

Accordingly, ad-interim relief is granted in these

Petitions in terms of prayer clause (h) of the Petition.

7.The Respondent shall file their affidavit-in-reply to

the Writ Petitions within a period of three weeks from

the date of this order. The Petitioner is at liberty to

file rejoinder thereto within a period of one week

thereafter."

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Similar directions are issued in the present case, and

the directions contained in para Nos. 5, 6 and 7 shall

apply mutatis mutandis in the present case, and the

competent authority shall proceed in accordance with

the directions contained in the aforesaid paragraphs of

the order.

Counsel for the petitioners further pointed out that

the respondent may also be directed to consider the

interim order dated 25.02.2026 passed in the present

case. The relevant part of the interim order is

reproduced as under:

"As an interim measure, it is reiterated that in subjects

where vacancies exist, and if there is no other legal

impediment, the respondent shall adhere to the

provisions of Rule 14(a)(2) of the Rules, 2018 for

admission in PG subjects."

The authority shall also consider the said interim order

while taking a decision in terms of the directions issued

by the Hon'ble High Court of Bombay.

List in the week commencing 20.04.2026.

On the said date, parties shall apprise this Court about

the latest developments in the present case."

13.In view of the aforesaid, the present writ petitions are

disposed of with a direction to the respondents to take a

decision on the representation submitted by the petitioners,

while duly considering the orders passed by the Hon'ble High

Court of Bombay as well as the Hon'ble High Court of

Madhya Pradesh, for conducting a special stray vacancy