The Uttarakhand NEET counselling process 2026 is run by Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Uttarakhand Medical Education University (HNBUMU), based in Dehradun. It is a single centralised counselling that fills MBBS seats in the state’s government medical colleges and the medical college of a private university, plus BDS seats in private dental colleges, all affiliated to HNBUMU. Allotment is on merit-cum-choice, using your NEET UG result and the eligibility and reservation rules in the HNBUMU bulletin.
Official website: www.hnbumu.ac.in. The university publishes every notification, the counselling schedule, and the college-wise fee chart here, and states that no separate intimation is sent to candidates. Check it regularly during the season.
This guide walks through the process end to end. The round-by-round exit rules (when leaving a seat is free and when it forfeits your deposit) and the full documents checklist are covered in separate guides, so this one stays on the mechanics of counselling.
What the centralised counselling covers
HNBUMU runs the counselling for two pools of seats:
- State quota seats in government medical colleges, the private university medical college, and private dental colleges of Uttarakhand. State reservation applies here.
- All India Open Quota seats in the private university medical college (MBBS) and private dental colleges (BDS). No state reservation applies to these seats.
This is distinct from the 15% All India Quota that the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) runs for government college seats. A state-quota candidate can take part in both the Uttarakhand counselling and the All India quota; the bulletin sets no bar between them, so track both calendars.
Who is eligible
To register for the Uttarakhand NEET counselling process 2026 you must be an Indian citizen, have qualified NEET UG, and meet the age rule as fixed by NTA, NMC and the Government of India for the cycle. On the academic side you must have passed Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Biotechnology and English individually, with a minimum aggregate in Physics, Chemistry and Biology or Biotechnology:
- 50% for General and EWS candidates
- 40% for SC, ST and OBC candidates
- 45% for General-PH and EWS-PH candidates
For state quota seats, the bulletin sets out three routes to eligibility:
- You are a domicile or permanent resident of Uttarakhand and passed both Class 10 and Class 12 from a recognised institution in the state.
- You are a domicile or permanent resident of Uttarakhand but passed Class 10 and/or Class 12 from a recognised institution outside the state.
- You are not a domicile of Uttarakhand but passed both Class 10 and Class 12 from recognised institutions in the state. You are eligible, but you get no reservation of any kind and pay the unreserved security amount.
That third route is the one to read twice. Schooling in the state lets you compete for a state-quota seat, but only a domicile or permanent resident can claim a reserved category. A non-domicile candidate is treated as unreserved even if they hold an SC, ST or OBC certificate. To claim domicile you must upload the domicile or permanent-resident certificate from the competent authority of Uttarakhand; an affidavit or acknowledgement receipt is not accepted in its place for that round.
Registration and the fees you pay upfront
Registration, choice filling and payment are all online. There are two separate payments at registration:
- Registration fee: Rs 6,500 for all categories. This single fee covers Rounds I, II and III. It is never refunded and is not carried forward, even if your application is later found ineligible.
- Security money: refundable, but forfeited in the situations set out in the exit-rules guide. The amount depends on the type of college you opt for.
The bulletin says the security amount follows the May 2018 Gazette provision against seat blocking. If no seat is allotted, it is refunded; if you fail to report to an allotted college after the free-exit date, it is forfeited. The slabs are:
| Seat type |
Security money |
| Government medical college |
Rs 10,000 |
| Government medical college, SC/ST/OBC of Uttarakhand domicile |
Rs 5,000 |
| Private medical college |
Rs 1,00,000 (all categories) |
| Private dental college |
Rs 1,00,000 (all categories) |
| Wards of Kashmiri Migrants seat |
Rs 10,000 |
If you opt for more than one type of institution, the higher security amount applies. The reduced Rs 5,000 slab is only for SC, ST and OBC candidates who hold Uttarakhand domicile, and only for government college seats; a reserved candidate without Uttarakhand domicile pays the full unreserved amount. The full chart is on the university website as a separate link.
Pay only through net banking, credit card or debit card, and use a bank account that belongs to you or your parent or guardian, since the refund goes back to the account you enter. The bulletin warns against starting a chargeback claim through your card-issuing bank, because that blocks the university from processing a direct refund and delays it.
How the merit list and choice filling work
HNBUMU prepares a separate state merit list for each round, based on who has registered for that round, and ranks candidates on their NEET UG result. You register, fill the online application form, upload your photograph and signature exactly as in your NEET UG form, and lock the form. After saving you can recheck and then lock your choices; if you save but do not lock, the system locks your choices automatically at the schedule deadline.
Two rules about choices bite hard. You can enter as many choices as you wish, in your order of preference and eligibility, but allotment once made is not altered, so do not list a quota, college or course you are not willing to take. And you must fill fresh choices in every round, regardless of what you chose earlier; previous-round choices do not carry over. If you fail to fill or save any choice, you are not considered for allotment that round.
Registration is open in each round. A candidate who does not register in Round I can still join Round II or Round III after registering and paying the required fee.
The rounds in order
Uttarakhand runs Rounds I, II and III followed by a stray vacancy round held at college level. The exit and forfeiture rules differ by round and are covered in the exit-rules guide; the sequence itself is:
Round I
- Online registration, application form, choice filling and payment of both the registration fee and security money
- Data processing, then declaration of result
- Reporting and joining the allotted college by the notified last date
Round II
- Fresh registration is possible; fresh choice filling is required
- Candidates allotted in Round I or II can opt for upgradation. If you are allotted an upgraded seat, your previous seat is cancelled automatically and passes to the next eligible candidate on merit.
Round III
- Fresh choice filling again, and upgradation is available to those allotted in Round I or II
- Seat conversion is applied this round (see below)
Stray vacancy round
- Seat allotment at college level for seats still vacant after Round III
The detailed time schedule for Round II, Round III and the stray vacancy round is notified separately on the university website. For the 2025 cycle, Round I registration and choice filling ran from 30 July to 3 August, the result was declared on 6 August, and the last date to join the allotted college was 12 August. Treat the 2025 dates as a guide to timing, not as 2026 dates; confirm the 2026 schedule on hnbumu.ac.in.
How reservation is applied during allotment
State reservation applies only to state-quota seats, not to All India Open Quota seats, and it is applied college-wise using a 100-point roster. Reservation is open only to Uttarakhand domicile or permanent-resident candidates; you must upload the caste or category certificate together with the Uttarakhand domicile certificate, both from the competent authority of the Uttarakhand government. If either is not from the Uttarakhand authority, or you cannot produce the originals at admission, you are treated as unreserved.
If a candidate qualifies for more than one sub-category, the seat is allotted in decreasing percentage of sub-categories. Persons with Disabilities get a 4% horizontal reservation, applied college-wise within each category, for PwD candidates who are Uttarakhand domicile holders. The category-wise percentages and the full list of categories are covered in the categories guide.
Seat conversion in Round III
When reserved seats go unfilled, the bulletin sets out the conversion chain, applied in Round III:
- If no eligible candidate is available in a sub-category, that sub-category’s vacant seats go to open candidates of the same parent category, except for the PH sub-quota.
- If a category still has vacancies beyond its reservation, those seats are made available to other categories, per the Government of Uttarakhand order of 25 August 2017.
- Seats reverted from the All India Open Quota to the state quota are filled by the same category; if no such candidate is available, they convert to other categories per the same policy.
The service-bond colleges
Two government colleges offer subsidised fees under a service-bond option: Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Government Institute of Medical Science and Research (VCSG), Srinagar, Pauri Garhwal, and Soban Singh Jeena Institute of Medical Science and Research, Almora. The subsidy and bond terms sit in a separate Uttarakhand government order (dated 26 June 2019), uploaded on the counselling site rather than printed in the bulletin. If you are headed to either college, contact it beforehand for the admission process and the exact bond documents, and submit them at admission; candidates who fail to submit the bond documents lose the subsidised-fee benefit.
After allotment: reporting and admission
Once a seat is allotted:
- Download the allotment letter from the portal.
- Pay the centralised advance tuition fee as instructed on the allotment letter and the website.
- Report in person to the allotted college within the specified period with your originals: allotment letter, proof of advance-fee payment, Class 10 certificate (age proof), Class 12 certificate and mark sheet, NEET UG 2026 admit card and result or rank letter, category and sub-category certificates if claimed, PwD certificate from an NMC-designated medical board if claimed, Wards of Kashmiri Migrants documents if claimed, the Uttarakhand domicile certificate, a valid photo ID, and the balance fee by demand draft as the college requires.
Admission is complete only when the college issues your admission letter within the period stated on the allotment letter, so arrange the documents and money in time. One rule traps candidates who have already taken a seat elsewhere: if your original certificates are deposited with another institute, you will not be allowed to take admission at the allotted Uttarakhand college. Retrieve your originals first.
The security money is refunded about 30 days after all rounds finish, online, to the account you provided, if it has not been forfeited.
Key differences from All India Quota counselling
|
Uttarakhand state counselling |
MCC All India Quota |
| Conducting body |
HNB Uttarakhand Medical Education University |
Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) |
| Eligibility |
Uttarakhand domicile, or Class 10 and 12 schooling in the state |
Open to all India |
| Reservation |
State policy, college-wise 100-point roster, domicile holders only |
Central UR/OBC/SC/ST/EWS |
| Merit list |
Separate state merit list prepared for each round |
Single AIR-based merit |
| Registration fee |
Rs 6,500, covers Rounds I-III |
Per MCC schedule |
| Portal |
hnbumu.ac.in |
MCC portal |
| Reporting |
In person at the allotted college |
At the allotted college |
Related Uttarakhand guides