Maharashtra NEET counselling: private colleges move HC for institute rounds

Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) Palghar and Parbhani Medical College (PMC), Parbhani, today, 16 October 2026, moved the Bombay High Court against the Maharashtra state government’s decision to end institute-level counselling for MBBS and MD admissions. The colleges have filed pleas before the Bombay High Court’s principal bench in Mumbai and its Aurangabad bench, seeking to regain the right to fill vacant seats after centralised counselling rounds.

This legal challenge impacts the ongoing NEET UG and PG admission processes in Maharashtra, a state with 64 medical colleges and over 9,070 MBBS seats available through the Centralised Admission Process (CAP). The state government’s move to scrap institutional rounds for private medical college MBBS admissions was implemented in July this year, with new rules for UG and PG medical and dental admissions notified in July and earlier this month, respectively.

Challenge to New Admission Rules

The petitioning colleges are contesting the Maharashtra state government’s decision to discontinue institute-level counselling, which previously allowed colleges to fill seats themselves. Under the new regulations, the entire admission process, including stray vacancy rounds, must be conducted online through the CAP by the competent authority, the State Common Entrance Test (CET) cell. These rules also introduce a penalty, barring candidates who fail to confirm admission to allotted seats in regular counselling from applying for admission for two subsequent years.

Advocate M.V. Thorat, representing the colleges, argues that the revised rules restrict their admission rights. He contends that the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015, does not prohibit institute-level counselling. Thorat stated, “These judgements give unaided colleges the right to admit their own students and fill all their vacancies. If SC has recognised this right, merely taking away [the institutional round provision] won’t fill the seats.” He further added that removing institute-level counselling would not resolve vacancies if seats remain unfilled after regular rounds. The colleges plan to rely on Supreme Court judgments in T.M.A. Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka, Islamic Academy of Education v. State of Karnataka, and P.A. Inamdar v. State of Maharashtra, which, according to Thorat, recognise the rights of unaided private educational institutions in matters relating to student admissions and filling vacant seats.

Context of Institute-Level Counselling

Institute-level counselling, carried out to fill all MBBS and MD/MS spots still unclaimed after regular rounds, has been a recurring point of contention. While colleges advocate for this method to ensure no seats remain unfilled, students and activists have previously claimed that institutional admission rounds, with limited transparency, allowed colleges to bypass merit and offer seats for large sums of money. In the past three admission cycles, the state initially announced central admission but was eventually compelled to change the final stray vacancy round to an institutional round, either due to college pressure or court orders.

The controversy gained prominence in 2023 when the state government accepted private colleges’ demand to fill vacant MBBS seats through college-level admissions. However, the National Medical Commission (NMC) later directed colleges to cancel admissions of 141 students who secured seats through this method. Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) Palghar had previously obtained favourable orders from the Bombay High Court for institute-level counselling during the 2024 and 2025 admission cycles. The proposal to scrap the institutional round for private medical colleges was put forward by the State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell and received approval from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER).

Admission Process and Fee Structure

The Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test Cell (CET Cell) conducts the CAP counselling through cetcell.mahacet.org. Maharashtra is a Closed State, requiring valid Maharashtra domicile for 85% state quota seats in government and private colleges. Non-domicile candidates are eligible for the 15% Institutional/NRI quota in private colleges. Deemed universities, such as DY Patil, MGM, and Symbiosis, are outside the CAP scope, and their seats are filled via MCC All India Quota (AIQ).

The registration fee for the CET Cell portal is ₹800 for the General category and ₹600 for reserved categories. For Management and NRI Quota, the registration fee is Rs 5,000, while for Government and Management quota, it is Rs 6,000. Tuition fees vary significantly across different quotas and college types.

A penalty of Rs.10,00,000/- (Rupees ten Lakhs only) is applicable for candidates who fail to complete their internship or resign a seat after the last round of counselling.

MBBS Seats in Maharashtra

Maharashtra has a total of 64 medical colleges, offering a substantial number of MBBS seats through various quotas and counselling bodies. The distribution of these seats across different college types and quotas is detailed below.

For private medical colleges, the seats are further broken down into State Quota (50%), Management Quota (35%), and NRI / Institutional Quota (15%). The State Quota is exclusively for Maharashtra domicile candidates and is filled through CET Cell CAP rounds. The Management Quota is open to any NEET-qualified student, while the NRI / Institutional Quota is for NRI candidates or any NEET-qualified student, both historically filled through an Institute Level (IL) process.

Further reading

• MGUG MBBS vacant seat admission 2026-27: apply by November 30 Applications open
• National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (UG) application form: eligibility, dates and how to apply
• Maharashtra NEET Counselling: complete exam guide

Written by Nishit Kumar

Nishit Kumar is a senior EdTech industry leader with over a decade of experience in building and scaling education platforms, shaping their product, content, and growth strategy. At FindMyCollege, Nishit oversees content and editorial strategy, guiding topic selection and content frameworks to ensure accuracy, relevance, and student-first value across the website.

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