Chennai: The Madras High Court has ordered the Medical Counseling Committee to conduct additional counseling for 40 vacant super-specialty medical courses in Tamil Nadu medical colleges within four weeks.

Counseling for admission to super-specialty medical courses in government, private and recognized universities across the country for the 2024-25 academic year was conducted in two phases. Following this, 600 seats remained vacant out of 5,000 seats across India.

Three doctors from Tamil Nadu — Ajitha, Preethi and Navaneetham — filed a petition in the Madras High Court, stating that the vacancies arose as candidates allotted seats in the counseling did not join the courses. They requested an order for additional counseling to fill these seats.

The petition noted that 40 seats are vacant in Tamil Nadu alone, and if not filled, valuable medical seats would go unused. It sought inclusion of these seats in the Central Medical Counseling Committee to allow counseling on an all-India basis.

Justice G.K. Ilandhiryan, who heard the case, directed the Central Medical Counseling Committee to conduct additional counseling for the 40 vacant seats in Tamil Nadu within four weeks.