The Supreme Court noted the continuing litigation on filling up NEET Super Speciality 2025 seats, wondering “for how long can this go on”

Published on: Sep 3, 2026, 21:06:07 IST

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The Centre informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that some seats remained unfilled after the second round of counselling in the NEET Super Speciality 2025 admission process and the government was ready to return these seats to Tamil Nadu.

“In all likelihood, we will hold an additional round of counselling. We are taking a decision most likely by today that whatever seats are unfilled will be given to Tamil Nadu,” additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati told the top court. However, she added that no decision to reduce the percentile has been made.

This means that about 40 super speciality seats may now go to Tamil Nadu’s kitty.

A bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe noted the continuing litigation on filling up NEET-Super Speciality 2025 seats, wondering “for how long can this go on”. The bench adjourned the matter to Tuesday to allow the Centre to make a clear decision in this regard.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the state government along with senior advocate P Wilson, welcomed the Centre’s decision. Singhvi said, “It is good that the seats have come back to Tamil Nadu provided they reduce the percentile.”

In its July 28 order, the bench directed that counselling be conducted on the same percentile and left open the option to reduce the percentile after the second round. The order further stated that, in the event any seats remain unfilled, 50% of such seats shall revert to Tamil Nadu, while the remaining 50% shall be filled through subsequent counselling by the DGHS as per the renewed percentile.

The Centre’s statement on Thursday indicated that instead of 50%, it was willing to offer 100% of the unfilled seats to Tamil Nadu.

The state had initially refused to hand over the 151 unfilled seats to the central pool, seeking to reserve them for in-service candidates who are doctors in the state and serve in rural areas for a public cause.

Wilson said the “noble cause of this in-service reservation” should not be diluted by the court. However, the Centre has opposed introducing any kind of reservation in super speciality medical courses, reasoning that there are a limited number of such seats and they should be allotted only on merit.

“It is our stand that there should be no reservation in SS courses. This court must decide finally on this issue, or else the problem will repeat every year.”

The petition was filed by the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association to restrain the Tamil Nadu government from transferring the 151 super speciality seats to the All India Quota (AIQ). These medical officers, who are mostly government doctors, said it was important to equip them with super-speciality skills to ensure that more benefits reach the general public.

However, the National Medical Commission and the Centre have blamed TN for delaying the counselling for NEET-SS 2025 due to its reluctance to surrender the vacant seats to AIQ. It cited a 2022 decision of the top court in N Kartikeyan v TN that required in-service SS seats to be surrendered to AIQ.

The Tamil Nadu government, however, insisted that in 2020, it provided a 50% quota for in-service doctors in super-speciality seats in government medical colleges.

The medical officers’ association claimed that once these seats are surrendered, they will suffer adverse consequences. Their petition stated that the policy of reservation for in-service doctors was introduced to address the shortage of specialist doctors in government hospitals and medical colleges and to ensure that super-speciality qualifications acquired through public institutions strengthen the state healthcare system.

It said the association’s members had participated in the NEET-SS 2025 counselling process and had a legitimate expectation that seats earmarked for in-service candidates would remain available till the completion of the admission process.

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