MP NEET PG Counselling 2026 Put On Hold After High Court Order, In-Service Seat Allotment Capped At 30%

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): In view of the interim order passed by the principal bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur, dated Nov 02, the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), on Tuesday, withheld the ongoing process of admission in postgraduate (PG) courses through National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) PG counselling.

An order has been issued regarding holding the admission process for the first round of MP State Combined NEET PG Counselling 2026.

The interim order was passed in connection with petition WP 44909/2026, which challenged the NEET PG counselling process. The High Court directed that the allotment of seats to in-service candidates must not exceed 30% in any discipline of specialisation.

After DME released a merit list for counselling, candidates from the 'open' category challenged the list in the High Court, questioning the methodology used to prepare it.

They alleged that the merit lists for two different categories of candidates had been merged, which adversely affected the merit standing and seat allocation for open-category candidates.

The petitioner had contended that candidates with higher scores should be allocated seats commensurate with their merit. However, the merging of lists has disrupted the allocation process. Consequently, high-merit candidates risk being denied entry into their preferred specialisations.

The petitioner further alleged that the prescribed seat limits were not being adhered to.

They claimed that in certain specialisations, a disproportionate number of seats were being allocated to 'in-service' doctors, thereby limiting the opportunities available to general-category candidates.

Counsel Aditya Sanghi argued that merit is paramount in PG courses, but merit is suffering because the two lists of open and in-service candidates have overlapped and therefore open-category students suffer by not getting seats as per merit.