The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has revised the eligibility criteria for the stray vacancy round of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) counselling. MCC has also added some seats. The committee has directed state counselling authorities to share the data of candidates admitted by October 25.

In accordance with a recent court order, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has added an additional seat at Sri Lakshmi Narayan Institute of Medical Science, Kudapakkam Post, Villianur, Puducherry, for the NEET UG stray vacancy round. Regarding the data of candidates who have already joined their allotted seats, MCC emphasised that filtering out these students is mandatory before the stray vacancy round begins.

The committee has urged all state counselling authorities to submit the data of joined candidates from all previous rounds through the intramcc portal by 5:00 PM on October 25, 2024. This step is crucial to ensure that candidates who have already secured seats in state colleges are excluded from the seat allotment process during the All India UG counselling stray vacancy round.

MCC has also provided the list of candidates who joined in rounds 1, 2, and 3 to state and union territory counselling authorities for weeding out in preparation for the upcoming stray vacancy round. This measure aims to prevent seat blocking and streamline the final phase of the counselling process.

Candidates who are not holding any seats under the All India Quota or State Quota are now eligible to participate in the stray vacancy round conducted by MCC. However, those candidates who were allotted seats through MCC in Round 3 but did not report to their respective institutes are deemed ineligible for the stray vacancy round. On the other hand, such candidates are allowed to participate in the state UG counselling process.

Candidates who have already joined their allotted seats through state quota in earlier rounds are also ineligible for this round. It is important to note that candidates who fail to join the seat allotted during the stray vacancy round will lose their security deposit and will also be disqualified from appearing for next year’s NEET exam.

MCC has taken this step to ensure a fair allocation of remaining seats and to prevent candidates from blocking seats without joining, thus enhancing the overall efficiency of the counselling process.