Jaipur: With just nine MBBS seats left in govt medical colleges, Rajasthan has opened the stray vacancy round of NEET UG counselling with 1,077 seats available under the 85% state quota, most of them in private colleges.The Rajasthan Medical and Dental Counselling Board released the final seat matrix Sunday after the completion of three counselling rounds and withdrawals following Round 3. Private medical colleges account for 1,068 vacancies, including 758 general seats and 310 management quota seats.To prevent candidates from abandoning seats after allotment, the board has made it mandatory for participants to submit a binding undertaking to join the allotted college within the prescribed time. Under the bond conditions, candidates and their sureties will be jointly and severally liable to pay either the full tuition fee for the entire MBBS course or Rs 10 lakh, whichever is higher, if the candidate fails to comply with the conditions.Candidates must also deposit all original certificates during the stray vacancy round. The allotted college will retain the documents until the bond conditions are fulfilled. If a candidate fails to join after being allotted a seat, the college can recover the bond amount, along with applicable govt-rate interest, legal costs, charges and other expenses, from the candidate or surety.The board has invited NEET MBBS-qualified candidates to register for the round, subject to eligibility rules. Candidates who exited Round 2 and did not register for Round 3 may apply if they meet the requirements.However, candidates marked as “joined” after Round 3 on the Medical Counselling Committee website are ineligible. Those who were allotted or upgraded to a seat in Round 3 but did not join are also barred from participating in the stray vacancy round.
