{
  "id": 16028984,
  "title": "NEET UG: Over medical seats remain vacant across deemed universities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/22/neet-ug-over-medical-seats-remain-vacant-across-deemed-universities",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-22T10:22:42.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/education/neet-ug-over-medical-seats-remain-vacant-across-deemed-universities-in-tamil-nadu-and-puducherry-10932198/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "More than 800 MBBS seats remain vacant across deemed universities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry following the final counselling for NEET UG 2026, according to sources. High tuition fees, ranging from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 35 lakh per year, are the primary reason for the vacancies, according to educationists and industry experts. The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) reported that 824 out of 837 unfilled MBBS seats in these deemed universities are unoccupied. Educationists criticize the absence of a fee cap for deemed universities, stating that high scorers in NEET are unable to secure these seats due to the exorbitant fees. As a result, NEET's objective of ensuring merit-based admission and curbing commercialization in medical education has failed. State governments are urged to open more medical colleges, while industry experts highlight the significant fee disparity between deemed universities and other private institutions in India.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}