Tamil Nadu set to get back 40 vacant super speciality seats
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Applications are expected to be invited soon as the Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the qualifying score for NEET-Super Speciality is being lowered from the 50th percentile to the 30th percentile.
After surrendering 151 unfilled super speciality seats for the second round of All India Quota counselling, Tamil Nadu is set to get 40 of them back. Nearly 100 in-service candidates are waiting for these seats and new applications are expected to be invited soon as the Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the qualifying score for NEET-Super Speciality is being lowered from the 50th percentile to the 30th percentile.
The State had to surrender the unfilled seats meant for Tamil Nadu’s in-service candidates in line with a Supreme Court direction. Now, 40 of these seats that remained vacant after round two of All India Quota counselling are being reverted to the State.
Officials said there are around 100 eligible candidates, but they would have to call for applications again after receiving the court orders. The application window will depend on the duration stipulated by the court.
M. Akilan, State secretary, Tamil Nadu Medical Officers’ Association (TNMOA), said in a statement that after the Supreme Court ordered on May 29 that the vacant in-service super speciality seats be surrendered to the All India pool, it filed an independent fresh writ petition before the court, representing the rights and interests of in-service doctors in super speciality education.
The court later directed that the vacant seats be surrendered to the All India pool and if the qualifying cut-off was reduced in subsequent rounds of counselling, 50% of the remaining unfilled Tamil Nadu seats should be reverted to the State.
TNMOA said it continued its legal efforts and subsequently filed another Interlocutory Application seeking the full reversion of the remaining unfilled Tamil Nadu in-service seats to the State. At the hearing on Thursday (September 17, 2026), the Medical Counselling Committee informed the court that the NEET-SS qualifying percentile would be reduced to the 30th percentile. All remaining unfilled in-service seats would be reverted to the State.
Dr. Akilan said that 111 candidates were already waiting and that new applicants would come in. Last year, Tamil Nadu surrendered 145 seats to the All India Quota and 39 were reverted.
Some senior government doctors expressed dissatisfaction. “First, the cut-off was kept at the 50th percentile. Then, 151 unfilled high-value super speciality seats were taken away for non-service All India candidates. Now, the cut-off percentile has been reduced to 30, and 40 seats have been reverted. These seats often belong to neglected disciplines. This is a sabotage of the Directorate-General of Health Services. The solution will be removal of the eligibility cut-off in the prospectus and running a fair counselling for service candidates at least from next year,” a doctor said.
Another doctor added that the vacant seats would not have many takers. Lack of financial and promotional opportunities had brought the interest down, he said.
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