Tamil Nadu had to surrender nearly 130 super-speciality medical seats meant for in-service candidates to the All India Quota (AIQ) counselling before conducting its second round of counselling. This was after the Directorate-General of Health Services (DGHS) asked the State to revert the vacant in-service seats to the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) for all-India counselling.
The decision has drawn criticism from the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association (TNMOA) as it sees this as going against the 50% reservation for in-service candidates. TNMOA State secretary M. Akilan said that usually, two rounds of counselling are held for the 215 super-speciality seats reserved for the in-service doctors. “It is only after this that the vacant seats would be surrendered for the AIQ. But this time, the State has surrendered the seats before conducting the second round. As of now, 75-78 seats have been filled by in-service candidates... They should have sought legal opinion or asked the government before deciding. This goes against the 50% reservation for in-service doctors,” he said.
