Jammu, Jan 22 (PTI) In a major relief for the 50 students affected by the revocation of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence, the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examinations has set January 24 as the fresh date for their counselling to adjust them in seven government-run colleges across the Union Territory.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the government has resolved the college allocation issue for the selected MBBS candidates of the medical college.

"With BOPEE now issuing the counselling schedule, the selected candidates can move ahead with their studies," the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said on X.

According to a notification issued by the controller of examinations of the BOPEE, Prof Gurvinder Raj Verma, the 50 supernumerary seats shall be distributed strictly based on the NEET-UG merit of the candidates concerned and their preferences among the seven newly established government medical colleges.

The notification said eight students would be allotted seats in GMC Anantnag and seven each in GMC Baramulla, Doda, Handwara, Kathua, Rajouri and Udhampur.

"Pursuant to Health and Medical Education Department communication of January 21, it is hereby notified that the concerned candidates who were provisionally allotted seats in different rounds of counselling by the Board for admission to the MBBS course in SMVDIME, Katra... the Board shall conduct the physical round of counselling to accommodate the students to the GMC within J-K against the supernumerary seats so created," it said.

The Board has scheduled the counselling for January 24 at its offices in the twin capitals of Srinagar and Jammu. It asked the candidates who are unable to attend the session in person to authorise a blood relative, in the format prescribed by the Board, to participate on their behalf. It asserted that the representative must carry the authorisation letter and a valid ID, including an Aadhaar Card.

Supernumerary seats are extra, additional seats created in educational programs beyond the normal intake, often to ensure representation for specific groups.

Earlier this month, the National Medical Commission's Medical Assessment and Rating Board withdrew the letter of permission granted to SMVDIME for non-compliance with minimum standards.

It had said that those admitted to the college during the counselling shall be accommodated in other institutions in Jammu and Kashmir as supernumerary seats.

Sangharsh Samiti, a recently formed conglomerate of right-wing organisations backed by the BJP, has been spearheading an agitation in Jammu since November last year, demanding cancellation of admissions to the college and seeking reservation of seats exclusively for students professing faith in Mata Vaishno Devi.

The Board had earlier said it cannot conduct fresh counselling for MBBS admissions and that the allocation of supernumerary seats to those who were admitted to the SMVDIME should be decided at the government level.

The clarification came in a letter to the Union Territory's Health and Medical Education Department, which sought its intervention in the relocation of students of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME).

In a letter to the Jammu and Kashmir Health and Medical Education Department on Wednesday, an under-secretary level officer of the Board said, "I am directed to submit that the matter was placed before the Board for detailed deliberations and it has observed that it is constrained to conduct any new counselling for the year 2025-26 as it is not mandated go beyond the counselling schedule issued by Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), MoHFW, New Delhi for current academic session." It said that under the directions of the MCC, the data of 1,410 MBBS candidates, including 50 candidates of the SMVDIME under question, has been updated on their portal on the last date of joining on December 31, 2025.

"Further, the creation and allotment of supernumerary seats does not fall within the ambit of J-K BOPEE." Therefore, the fresh allocation of supernumerary seats to these candidates who were earlier allotted SMVDIME be made at the government level in consultation with the National Medical Commission and respective medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir, the letter said.

Among the inaugural batch of 50 students at the SMVDIME, 42 were Muslims -- mostly from Kashmir -- along with seven Hindu students from Jammu and one Sikh candidate, a composition that triggered demands for scrapping the admissions and reserving all seats for Hindu students.

On January 8, the chief minister asserted that the education of the 50 students will not be allowed to suffer, and his government will accommodate them in other institutions through supernumerary seats.

"It is our legal responsibility to accommodate them. We will adjust them by creating supernumerary seats in colleges close to their homes so that their education does not suffer," he had said. PTI TAS SKL RHL