Medical students who secured MBBS seats through individual college allocations rather than centralized online counseling by state or central authorities face potential admission cancellations. The National Medical Commission (NMC) implemented a mandate that even leftover seats from the last "stray vacancy or mop-up rounds" must be allocated online based on a centralized merit list.

The move aimed to eliminate the practice of "seat buying," where colleges assigned remaining seats to lower-ranking students for higher fees. The NMC is currently scrutinizing records of 1.04 lakh admissions to identify those conducted offline. A notice from the regulator warned that admissions reflected in the final list may face cancellation once the verification process is complete.

Officials revealed that the compiled list of students was based on data provided by colleges after completing the admission process. However, contrary to the mandate, some colleges included names of students admitted offline. Colleges failing to upload information about genuinely admitted students have received show-cause notices.

The NMC has written to all counseling bodies requesting details of students admitted through the centralized merit list. The verification process will involve cross-referencing the final list against records from counseling authorities to identify and eliminate "fake" admissions.

Currently, the Medical Counseling Committee manages counseling for 15% of central quota MBBS seats, while state authorities handle the remaining 85%. The NMC emphasized the necessity for stringent action to prevent such irregular practices from persisting. Typically, three rounds of counseling at both Central and state levels precede a mop-up round for leftover seats.

(Source:https://indianexpress.com/article/india/students-admitted-to-medical-colleges-offline-face-cancellation-threat-9102432/ )