SC to hear plea on vacant PG medical seats, demands 5-year vacancy data

The Supreme Court will on Monday take up a plea calling for a structured mechanism that ensures postgraduate medical seats in pre-clinical and para-clinical branches do not remain vacant across colleges in India.

The petition has highlighted persistent concerns about unfilled seats in these programmes, which are crucial for strengthening medical education and public health services.

Filed with a view to streamlining the admission process, the petition also demands that the National Medical Commission produce detailed



data on the number of postgraduate seats that have remained vacant in the past five years.

The matter will be heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and N V Anjaria.

The issue of unused medical seats has been repeatedly flagged before the apex court. While hearing a separate plea in January this year, the court had remarked that seats in medical courses cannot remain vacant, and that steps must be taken to prevent such wastage of resources and training opportunities.