Karnataka High Court delivers split verdict in pleas challenging third round counselling for medical, dental seats

Bengaluru: A division bench of the Karnataka high court has delivered a split verdict in a batch of petitions challenging the manner of conduct of third round of counselling by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) for undergraduate medical and dental seats. The division bench comprising Justices Jayant Banerji and KV Aravind heard the petitions, filed by candidates primarily seeking permission to participate in the third round of counselling for all vacant seats, and passed the split verdict.

The petitioners contended that after the second round, through different notifications, KEA had added 443 seats for the third round of counselling. The notifications however restricted the participation of the petitioners, who were allotted in the first two rounds, to only the added seats. They claimed that in neighbouring states vacant and additional seats in the third round are made available not only to the candidates who failed to get a seat in the first and the second round but also to those who have got admission.

Justice Banerjee observed that the introduction of the 443 new seats amidst the third round of counseling and permitting fresh registrations in the third round against those 443 new seats has led to complications in the counseling process. Instead of promoting transparency, the process has rendered the counseling process opaque with allegations of lack of merit-based seat allotments.

Justice Banerjee set aside the 3rd round of the provisional seat allotment list of candidates on October 24, 2025, with a direction to the KEA to undertake the process of the third round of counselling afresh, strictly as per the directions of the Apex Court in the case of Bhavna Tiwari.

“Therefore, new registrations for the first stage of the third round of counseling for the 443 new seats could not have been made by KEA. Only the admitted candidates post second round of counseling would be entitled to participate in the first stage of the third round of counseling. The third round of provisional seat allotment list of candidates dated 24.10.2025 is therefore, set aside with direction to the KEA to undertake the process of third round of counseling afresh strictly as per the directions of the Supreme Court in Bhavna Tiwari (case),” Justice Banerjee said, directing the KEA to conclude the two stages of the third round of counseling and the final list to be declared no later than December 2, 2025.

On the other hand, Justice KV Aravind noted that the petitioners, who were selected in first two rounds and are presently pursuing their undergraduate MBBS course, seeking reallotment without challenging the governing conditions would deprive candidates who are otherwise eligible for admission against the available vacancies in third round/mop-up and the stray vacancy round. Justice Aravind further said that the admitted candidates were permitted to make option entries in round 3/mop-up only against the newly added seats in the 9 colleges and that the candidates accepted these conditions and made their option entries accordingly.

“The request made by the KEA merits consideration in the larger interest of the eligible candidates and to ensure completion of the ongoing counselling process. In the facts and circumstances of the case, it is appropriate to permit the counselling exercise to be completed on or before December 10, 2025,” Justice Aravind said.