Counseling for admissions in MBBS and BDS courses postponed indefinitely
The Statesman | 20 August 2025
The state health department headed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has postponed the NEET UG 2025 counseling process for admissions in MBBS and BDS courses for an indefinite period.
The announcement yesterday came just two days before the scheduled release of the Round I admission process for the undergraduate medical and dental courses, landing more than 11,000 aspiring candidates in deep uncertainty at a time when thousands of candidates are still awaiting publication of a merit list of the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination.
The examination for engineering courses was held by the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board (WBJEEB) more than three months ago.
On Monday, Prof (Dr) Indrajit Saha, director of medical education (DME), issued an urgent notice stating, “The WB NEET UG Medical, Dental 2025 counseling/admission has been kept in abeyance till further order.”
The suspension comes shortly after the publication of the revised provisional state merit list for the 85% state quota seats, which included 11,178 candidates. However, no specific reason for the halt was cited in the urgent notice.
Sources in the state health department at Swasthya Bhaban said that legal issues in connection with OBC quota might be instrumental behind the postponement of the counseling for MBBS and BDS courses. Earlier, the Calcutta High Court had paused the admission and recruitment process across the state due to legal disputes related to OBC reservations.
The court recently permitted the process to resume and directed the WBJEEB to publish a fresh merit list. Following this, the West Bengal Medical Counselling Committee (WBMCC) released a revised merit list on 16 August and scheduled the seat allotment results for 20 August, with college reporting from 21 to 23 August.
Dr Utpal Banerjee, secretary of the Association of Health Service Doctors (AHSD), said, “The move to postpone the counseling will trigger sheer frustration among young aspiring NEET UG medical and dental qualifiers. With this sudden irrational decision, the entire session in MBBS and BDS courses would be affected.”
Dr Soumyadip Roy, state committee member of the AIDSO, said, “We have submitted a memorandum to the DME today and requested him to withdraw the postponement order as soon as possible. Otherwise the delay in completing counseling process will damage the academic career of the candidates.”
The notice didn’t mention any reason behind the postponement of the counseling and the move is highly illegal, he alleged.