Srinagar, Jan 17: J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (JKBOPEE) has announced the reopening of online registration for NEET PG-2025 admissions to MD, MS, and PGD courses.
This follows the recent decision to lower merit thresholds in line with national guidelines.
With a considerable number of vacancies in medical colleges for postgraduate seats, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, on January 9 directed to have better occupancy of postgraduate seats.
A subsequent notification by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) potentially opened the door for thousands of candidates who previously fell short of qualifying cut-offs.
In J&K as well, a significant number of postgraduate seats are vacant.
An official in the J&K Health and Medical Education Department said the seats are mostly vacant in new medical colleges.
The official said that the vacant PG seats would reflect negatively on the medical colleges and the healthcare delivery.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Chairperson JKBOPEE, Minu Mahajan, said that the online registration portal, which had closed after earlier rounds, had been reopened and remains accessible until January 20, 2026.
“We were waiting for a nod from MCC for the third round, where the seats that have not been filled in earlier rounds will be available. Now that the go-ahead for lowering of merit has been given, eligible candidates from J&K and Ladakh will need to apply or update their details under the revised criteria,” she said.
Mahajan said the provisional merit list would be available by January 22 to 23.
She said that the counseling process would start after January 27 as per the directions of MCC.
Seats that have been left unfilled by higher-merit candidates would now cascade down to those lower on the list.
Mahajan said the higher merit students would not be affected by these adjustments.
“However, lower merit students may now gain access to opportunities that were out of reach with the cut-off that existed,” she said.
The lowering of the qualifying NEET-PG score, in some cases, even below the zero percentile, is being criticised by many.
Stakeholders have raised concerns about patient safety and educational standards.
The United Doctors Front (UDF) National President Dr Lakshya Mittal, has challenged “arbitrary and unprecedented reduction of qualifying cut-off percentiles for NEET-PG 2025-26, including zero and negative scores”.
The body has approached the Supreme Court demanding that the decision be reversed.
The doctors’ body has sought protection of the minimum qualifying standards in postgraduate medical education.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) slashed NEET PG 2025 qualifying percentiles to an unprecedented low earlier this month.
For general category candidates, the cut-off was reduced to the 7th percentile.
However, for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in the general category, it dropped to the 5th percentile.
For reserved categories, including SC, ST, and OBC, the thresholds were lowered to the 0th percentile.
In simpler words, a candidate with a score as low as 40 marks is eligible to try her or his luck at a postgraduate seat.
As per the ministry, the drastic reduction has been implemented to fill the reported 18,000 vacant seats in the country.
The seats would be filled in the third round of counseling.
