In the country's most prestigious medical institute, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), nine MBBS seats have remained vacant despite the admission process having concluded on August 31.
This information was revealed in a RTI query filed by Neemach-based activist Chandrashekhar Gaud on September 12.
Read: Government Zeroes In On Single Exam, NEET, For MBBS Admission
According to the information received through RTI query, there were no vacant seats at then end of the counselling process on August 26. However, after the admission process concluded on August 31, nine seats -- one each in Bathinda, Nagpur and Raipur and two each in Deoghar, Patna and Rae Bareli -- were found vacant.
This year, highest number of seats remained vacant in AIIMS Deoghar; 32 out of 50 seats were vacant after three rounds of counseling.
Read: NEET Mandatory For MBBS At AIIMS Now: What Difference It Makes In Exam Pattern
"AIIMS must appeal to the Supreme Court make some alternate arrangement to fill up these nine seats, which will go vacant for the entire five-year academic session if enrollments are not allowed to them. Lakhs of aspirants prepare for AIIMS exam. It will be a pity if deserving candidates are left out for a mark or two, even as 9 seats go vacant," the activist added.
AIIMS conducts three rounds of counseling for MBBS admission. After the third counseling it conducts an open round counseling for filling the seats that fell vacant by way of surrender or resignation. It releases the updated list of vacant seats a day before the scheduled date for open round counseling. This year the open round counseling was held on August 26.
A total of 179 seats were advertised by AIIMS for open counseling this year. As per the information revealed from the RTI query, 170 were filled.
AIIMS MBBS entrance exam sees cut throat competition every year wherein medical aspirants compete for bagging a MBBS seat in any of the country's 15 AIIMS at New Delhi, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneshwar (Odisha), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Rishikesh (Uttarakhand), Patna (Bihar), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Manglagiri (Andhra Pradesh), Bathinda (Punjab), Deoghar (Jharkhand), Changsari (Assam), Awantipora (Kashmir), Vijaypur (Jammu) and Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh).
In total, there are 1,150 MBBS seats in the AIIMS of which 584 are reserved for the general category candidates; 311 are reserved for the other backward class candidates; 172 are reserved for the backward caste candidates; and 83 are reserved for the backward tribe candidates.
This year AIIMS entrance exam was held on May 25 and May 26. The result was declared on June 12. The counselling followed by mop-up rounds were held till August 26.
The results for the 1,205 seats in these colleges were declared on June 12 and were followed by the counselling and mop-up rounds on August 26.
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