The Supreme Court will on November 17 hear a petition demanding a nationwide system to ensure that postgraduate medical seats—especially in pre-clinical and para-clinical specialities — do not continue to lie vacant year after year.

The plea calls for structural reforms in the admission process and seeks a five-year record of unfilled seats from the National Medical Commission (NMC).

Highlighting a problem that has persisted despite repeated judicial interventions, the petition argues that vacancies in these core PG branches weaken both medical education and the country’s overall public-health ecosystem.

The issue, it notes, is not new: each admission cycle has seen seats go unclaimed even after multiple rounds of counselling.

A Bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and N V Anjaria will take up the matter.

Vacancies flagged repeatedly

The Supreme Court has, on several occasions, expressed displeasure over postgraduate and superspeciality seats being left unfilled. Earlier this year, while hearing a separate plea, the court observed that medical seats “cannot remain vacant” and emphasised the need to plug systemic gaps that allow trained-capacity to go waste.

In April 2023, the court also raised concerns over superspeciality vacancies, questioning whether procedural hurdles were preventing eligible candidates from securing placements. The Centre had then proposed forming a committee headed by the Director General of Health Services, with representation from states and private medical colleges.

What the new plea demands

The current petition pushes for a long-term corrective mechanism instead of piecemeal steps. By asking for five years of vacancy data, the petitioners aim to establish patterns that reveal why pre-clinical and para-clinical departments consistently fail to attract enough applicants.

They argue that such an audit is essential for policymakers and regulators to understand gaps in demand, counselling schedules, institutional planning and seat distribution.

If adopted, the proposed measures could help optimise seat utilisation in future admission cycles and strengthen the availability of trained specialists across crucial but often overlooked disciplines.

The court’s decision is expected to have far-reaching implications for medical education, potentially triggering a fresh round of reforms to ensure no PG seat goes unused in the coming years.