The row over allotment seats for MBBS and BDS courses in the third round of counselling in State remained unresolved with two judges in a division bench of the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday delivering a divergent judgement over the correctness of the procedure adopted by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) in allotting seats in this round of counselling.
Justice Jayant Banerji set aside the provisional allotment list of third round announced by the KEA on October 24, and directed the KEA to undertake the process of third round afresh strictly as per the directions of the Supreme Court in the case of State of UP Vs. Bhavna Tiwari. He directed the KEA to conclude the two stages of the third round of counselling declare final list of seat allotment or before December 2.
However, Justice K.V. Aravind, permitted the KEA to go ahead based on the provisional allotment list published on October 24 and complete this round expeditiously and compete all remaining rounds of counselling by December 10.
Following a divergent view, the petitions, filed by some of the candidates challenging the procedure of allotment in the third round, will have to be heard by a third judge and till then the counselling process would remain halted.
The allotment to around 900 MBBS seats, including vacant seats under management quota, are on hold due to pendency of the case the petition since October 26.
Divergent view
In his judgement, Justice Banerji said that the apex court in Bhavna Tiwari’s case had said that upgrade windows post-round two for admitted candidates to shift to better seats has to be permitted without reopening counselling to new entrants.
The new registrations for the first stage of third round of counselling for the 443 new seats could not have been made by KEA, Justice Banerji said, while pointing out that only the admitted candidates post second round of counselling would be entitled to participate in the first stage of the third round of counselling. Hence, the provisional seat allotment list of candidates of third round was contrary to the apex court’s directions, Justice Banerji said.
NMC regulations
Quoting Section 17 of the Graduate Medical Education Regulations (GMER), 2023, of the National Medical Commission (NMC), Justice Banerji said that newly added 443 seats in some medical colleges could not have been considered for allotment in the third round of counselling. He said these seats in the third round gave rise to complications in considering students for allotment of seats.
However, Justice Aravind, in his judgement, said that seats were increased in several medical colleges across the country when the counselling process was underway and admissions were made to such seats across the country, including through the All India Quota (AIQ).
Hence, not allowing admission to newly-added 443 seats in the third round in Karnataka would amount to discriminatory practice, said Justice Aravind while also pointing out that the NMC itself has increased intake in several colleges when the second and the third round of counselling was under way and made available increased seats for allotment through the ongoing counselling process across the country.
Published – November 19, 2025 10:50 pm IST
