The Bombay High Court on Tuesday permitted private medical colleges in Maharashtra to conduct institute-level admissions for vacant state-quota MBBS and BDS seats. This decision extends a similar interim order from last year to the ongoing NEET UG counselling 2025 process.
Normally, the Maha CET Cell manages centralized NEET counselling for all institutes. Institute-level counselling allows individual private colleges to fill their remaining seats directly. This differs from the centralized system where a central authority allocates seats across all colleges.
Current Vacancies
Currently, 451 out of 3,599 MBBS seats in private medical colleges remain unfilled. In comparison, only 37 out of 4,936 state quota government seats are vacant. The High Court’s order could affect how these private college seats are filled.
| College Type | Total State Quota Seats | Vacant Seats |
|---|---|---|
| Private Medical Colleges | 3,599 | 451 |
| Government Medical Colleges | 4,936 | 37 |
Vedantaa Institute’s Plea
The court’s decision followed a plea by Vedantaa Institute of Medical Science (VIMS), Palghar. VIMS, a corporate-run medical college, has 96 out of its 150 seats currently vacant. VIMS challenged a July 2023 directive from the National Medical Commission (NMC). The NMC directive mandated that all NEET UG admissions occur solely through online, centralized counselling, prohibiting college-level admissions.
VIMS argued that Maharashtra’s 2016 rules allow colleges to fill unclaimed seats after centralized rounds. The college maintains these state rules supersede the NMC’s instructions.
Uncertainty for Ongoing Counselling
It remains unclear if the state will immediately change its counselling mode. The Maharashtra CET Cell is currently conducting its first stray vacancy round through the centralized system. The High Court has requested NMC to submit its reply by December 20 . The final hearing for VIMS’s petition is set for January 8 , 2026, likely after the current admission process concludes.
The court did not rule on VIMS’s request to allow candidates from outside Maharashtra for state quota seats. Another VIMS plea, regarding NRI quota seat eligibility, is scheduled for a separate hearing.
Admission Process Controversy
College-level admissions have caused friction between colleges, students, and authorities. Private colleges seek control to fill all their seats. Students and activists argue such a system lacks transparency. They allege it can lead to colleges denying admissions to deserving candidates. Concerns also exist about colleges blocking seats with ‘fake’ applicants.
In 2023, despite NMC’s directive for online-only counselling, Maharashtra allowed an institutional round. NMC later invalidated the admissions of 141 candidates from that round. Following this, the Bombay High Court issued conflicting judgments. The Nagpur bench sided with NMC, while the principal bench, hearing VIMS’s plea in 2024, deemed NMC’s directive an ‘executive instruction,’ directing the state to follow its own rules.