Admission to medical courses: Bihar Health ministry seeks details of counselling for UG seats

In one case, a girl ranked 981 in Bihar, who could not have qualified for admission in the lowest-ranked Betiah Medical College, got a seat in the best-ranked Patna Medical College in the mop-up round. At least 100 BDS students, who could have got MBBS seats if allowed to take part in the mop-up round, are upset. Some of them are now exploring legal options.

Bihar principal secretary, Health, Sanjay Kumar told The Indian Express, “BCECEB had not given phase-wise list to me. I have asked the counselling board to give us phase-wise list with details of students, their social categories and who got which college in all three rounds.” Kumar said it did look surprising how 183 seats remained vacant after two rounds of counselling. “Mop-up means left over seats, but 183 out of 972 is a big number.”

Asked if the Health Ministry, being the monitoring agency, is also looking at how other states are allowing all students to take part in the mop-up round, the health secretary said, “Let us first see the phase-wise list. We will also see how other states are going about it. Low rankers getting into the best colleges does look irrational. We are surely looking at it.”

All 183 seats, vacant after two rounds, were filled during the mop-up round. This meant lower-ranked students are now ahead of those who already sought admission after the second round and were not allowed to take part in the mop-up round.