PGNEET counselling put on hold by Karnataka Examinations Authority following court’s interim order

In another development, technical glitches in the registration process for UGNEET eligible candidates continued on Tuesday

A representational photo of medical students.   | Photo Credit: K Murali Kumar

Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has stopped the PGNEET-2022 (post graduate medical courses) counselling following the interim order of the High Court of Karnataka on the in-service quota. This has led to uncertainty among PGNEET eligible candidates.

The case had gone to court after KEA has released 4,157 PG medical and dental course seat matrix for the 2022-23 academic year on October 10. The contention was over Karnataka’s share of in-service postgraduate (PG) quota, which is down by 192 seats. In 2021-22, the State had 398 PG medical in-service quota seats. This year, the number is only 206.

The State government must reserve 70% of PG medical seats for non-service doctors and 30% for government in-service doctors. However, this year, the government had put aside 85% of seats for non-service doctors and only 15% for in-service doctors working in the Health and Family Welfare Department, autonomous institutions, BBMP and Boards and Corporations across the State. In-service doctors had challenged this in court on October 14.

The High Court passed an interim order and directed KEA not to precipitate the matter till the next date of hearing. The next hearing is listed for October 20.

When contacted, B.L. Sujatha Rathod, Director, Directorate of Medical Education, said, “The matter is in the High Court. We will follow the court direction.”

Glitches continue

Meanwhile, technical glitches in the registration process for UGNEET-2022 eligible candidates continued on Tuesday and the candidate were struggling to register in the KEA website for counselling.

The server has became slow around 3 p.m. and candidates failed to register on the portal. Tensed parents and students thronged KEA to get clarity from authorities. KEA informed that the server was under maintenances and candidates could try to login after 8 p.m.

The authority also announced that as of now, 9,500 UGCET and 6,400 UGNEET eligible candidates had successfully registered on the portal. KEA also released the guidelines for UGNEET-2022 candidates to fill on-line applications.

Speaking to The Hindu, S. Ramya, Executive Director, KEA, said, “The server supported up to 3 p.m. However, it became slow after that. I have discussed this with the State data centre and they promised to provide additional resources.”