Category: NEET Guides

The Uttarakhand NEET category list and reservations apply only to state-quota seats in the centralised counselling run by HNB Uttarakhand Medical Education University (HNBUMU). No reservation applies to the All India Open Quota seats. The one rule that decides everything below is this: reservation is open only to candidates who are domicile or permanent residents of Uttarakhand. Schooling in the state is enough to be eligible for a state-quota seat, but only a domicile holder can claim a reserved category.

The full counselling mechanics (rounds, fees, choice filling) and the documents checklist are covered in separate guides. This one is about who counts as which category, and how the quotas are applied.

The vertical categories

HNBUMU recognises the standard set of reserved categories for the Uttarakhand state quota, alongside the open or unreserved pool:

• Open / Unreserved (UR)
• Scheduled Caste (SC)
• Scheduled Tribe (ST)
• Other Backward Class (OBC)
• Economically Weaker Section (EWS)

The reservation is governed by Government of Uttarakhand order No-124/XXX(2)/2025-53(01)/2001 dated 22 May 2020, and a 100-point roster has been applied college-wise since the 2020-21 session and carried forward to later sessions. The bulletin does not print a single statewide percentage for each category; the split is worked out per college through the roster. The category-wise percentages are set by the Uttarakhand government’s reservation policy, and the policy in force on the day of counselling applies, so confirm the current figures against the state policy or the bulletin for your cycle before you plan around them.

Domicile is the gate to every reserved category

Only an Uttarakhand domicile or permanent-resident candidate can claim SC, ST, OBC or EWS benefit, or any sub-category or horizontal benefit. If you claim a reserved category you must upload two certificates together: the caste or category certificate, and the Uttarakhand domicile or permanent-resident certificate, both issued by the competent authority of the Uttarakhand government. A category certificate from any other state’s authority does not work here.

The consequences of getting this wrong are spelt out in the bulletin. If either certificate is not from the competent Uttarakhand authority, or you cannot produce the originals at admission, you lose the reservation and are treated as an unreserved candidate, provided you still meet the UR eligibility. A non-domicile candidate who was schooled in Uttarakhand is eligible for a state-quota seat but is not entitled to any reservation and pays the full unreserved security amount.

How to read your own category

Your category for Uttarakhand counselling follows the certificate issued by the competent revenue authority of Uttarakhand:

• SC / ST: per the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes list, with the caste certificate plus Uttarakhand domicile.
• OBC: per the Uttarakhand OBC list, with the OBC certificate plus domicile. The OBC certificate must be valid (see the validity rule below).
• EWS: for candidates not covered by SC, ST or OBC who meet the economic criteria, with the EWS certificate plus domicile.
• Open / UR: if you hold no valid reserved-category claim, or if you are eligible on schooling but not domicile.

During the online form you declare your reserved category and, where it applies, your sub-category, but only if you are a domicile or permanent resident of Uttarakhand.

The OBC certificate has an expiry you can miss

An Uttarakhand OBC certificate is valid for only three years from its date of issue, under state order No 310/XVII-2/16-02(OBC)/2012 dated 26 February 2016. It must still be valid up to your round of counselling and the last date of admission for the session. A claim made on an expired OBC certificate is summarily rejected during counselling and you are then considered as unreserved. Check the date on your certificate well before the season and get a fresh one if it is close to lapsing.

Sub-categories and how they are allotted

Where you qualify for more than one sub-category reservation, the bulletin allots the seat in decreasing percentage of sub-categories. If no eligible candidate is available in a sub-category, those vacant seats are filled by open candidates of the same parent category in Round III, except for the PH sub-quota. If a category still has vacancies beyond its reservation, those seats are made available to other categories in Round III, under the Government of Uttarakhand order dated 25 August 2017.

Horizontal reservations

These quotas apply across the vertical categories rather than as separate blocks of seats.

Persons with Disabilities (PwD): 4%

For PwD candidates who are domicile holders of Uttarakhand, 4% of seats are reserved college-wise in each category, as a horizontal reservation under NMC, DCI and Government of India norms. These candidates are also considered, on merit, for open seats of their own category in addition to the disability seats. The disability is determined per the latest NMC and Government of India guidelines, and the certificate must come from an NMC-designated medical board, not a generic disability card or a district board. The qualifying-exam aggregate for General-PH and EWS-PH candidates is 45%.

Defence Personnel Wards (DPW)

This reservation applies only to a dependent of an ex-serviceman, with the certificate from the competent authority. Two groups are explicitly excluded: dependents of in-service defence personnel, and dependents of ex-servicemen of paramilitary forces. Like every reserved category, DPW is open only to Uttarakhand domicile holders.

Wards of Kashmiri Migrants: the quota that needs no domicile

The Wards of Kashmiri Migrants (WKM) quota is the one exception to the domicile rule. One seat is reserved in each government medical college of Uttarakhand, four seats in total. Uttarakhand domicile is not required. To claim it you upload three self-attested documents: the certificate of registration as a Kashmiri Migrant from the Relief Commissioner, Jammu or the competent authority of Uttarakhand; proof of property in Kashmir of the candidate’s parent; and proof of current residence, such as a ration card, election photo identity card, driving licence, Aadhaar card or passport. Documents in a language other than English or Hindi need a notarised English translation, and they are emailed to the counselling board by the dates notified for each round.

A Kashmiri-migrant candidate who does not otherwise meet the state-quota criteria is eligible only for these WKM seats and for the All India Open Quota seats. Allotment is on NEET UG merit. If no eligible WKM candidate is available, the seats are filled by unreserved candidates in Round III.

State category certificates and the All India Quota

As an Uttarakhand candidate you are considered for both the state quota under HNBUMU and the 15% All India Quota under the MCC. The category certificates work differently across the two. Your Uttarakhand caste or category certificate is for the state quota only. For the All India Quota, an OBC claim needs a certificate on the Central OBC-NCL list in the central format; an Uttarakhand OBC certificate is not accepted there. If you plan to use both routes, arrange a central-list OBC-NCL certificate as well as your state certificate.

Uttarakhand state counselling	All India Quota equivalent
UR / Open	UR (Unreserved)
OBC (Uttarakhand list)	OBC-NCL (Central list, central format)
SC	SC
ST	ST
EWS	EWS
PwD (4% horizontal, domicile only)	PwD (per MCC, separate certificate)
Defence Personnel Wards (ex-serviceman only)	No direct equivalent in the open quota
Wards of Kashmiri Migrants (no domicile needed)	No equivalent

Related Uttarakhand guides

• Uttarakhand counselling exit rules: round-by-round deposits, deadlines and penalties
• Uttarakhand NEET counselling: full document checklist

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:

1. You are a domicile or permanent resident of Uttarakhand and passed both Class 10 and Class 12 from a recognised institution in the state.
2. You are a domicile or permanent resident of Uttarakhand but passed Class 10 and/or Class 12 from a recognised institution outside the state.
3. 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:

1. 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.
2. 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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:

1. Download the allotment letter from the portal.
2. Pay the centralised advance tuition fee as instructed on the allotment letter and the website.
3. 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

• Uttarakhand counselling exit rules: round-by-round deposits, deadlines and penalties
• Uttarakhand NEET counselling: full document checklist

The Assam NEET category list, set out in the state’s gazetted MBBS/BDS admission rules, covers OBC and MOBC, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes split into plains and hills, and an Economically Weaker Sections quota. On top of these vertical categories Assam runs several horizontal quotas, including one for persons with benchmark disabilities and one for residents of the state’s char (river-island) areas. The reservation applies to the 85% state quota run by the Directorate of Medical Education; the 15% All India Quota uses the central category system instead.

Vertical reservation in the Assam state quota

The figures below are stated in the rules as percentages of the state quota seats (the balance left after the All India Quota, Central Pool and North Eastern states’ seats are taken out). They come from Schedule-III of the admission rules as amended in 2019 and 2020.

Category	Reservation (of state quota seats)	Non-creamy-layer requirement
OBC / MOBC (Non-Creamy-Layer only)	Approximately 25.75%	Yes
Scheduled Castes (SC)	7%	No
Scheduled Tribes, Plain — ST(P)	10%	No
Scheduled Tribes, Hills — ST(H)	5%	No
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)	10% of total state quota seats	N/A (income/asset-based)

The OBC/MOBC share is a single Non-Creamy-Layer quota, not split per community in the percentage. Within it the rules name specific communities, each certified as OBC-NCL by the Deputy Commissioner: Tea Garden and Ex-Tea Garden tribes (TGL/Ex-TGL), Moran, Motak, Tai Ahom, Chutiya and Koch Rajbongshi. These are seats carved from the OBC/MOBC block rather than categories above it.

Scheduled Tribes: the plains and hills split

Assam is one of the few states that divides its ST reservation by geography. Scheduled Tribes (Plain) hold 10% of state quota seats and Scheduled Tribes (Hills) hold 5%. They are separate quotas with separate caste lists; your ST certificate from the Deputy Commissioner has to match the right one. Both are claimed on the same gazette annexure (Annexure-V) but against the correct ST(P) or ST(H) status.

How the reserved categories certify

Every category claim in the state quota rests on a certificate from the Deputy Commissioner of the district, submitted with the matching gazette annexure in the application form:

• OBC/MOBC: original certificate naming the community and stating Non-Creamy-Layer status, on Annexure-III. Candidates in the creamy layer, or whose community is not on the Assam OBC/MOBC list, are advised to apply as General.
• SC: original caste certificate, on Annexure-IV.
• ST(Plain) and ST(Hills): original caste certificate, on Annexure-V, against the correct plains or hills status.
• TGL/Ex-TGL: OBC certificate naming the specific tea-garden community with NCL status, on Annexure-VI.
• EWS: not a generic EWS certificate. The claim is on Assam’s own EWS certificate from the concerned Circle Office or Circle Officer, issued per the Personnel Department’s Office Memorandum No. ABP 07/2019/4 dated 10 April 2019.

For All India Quota seats the same person needs a central-list OBC-NCL certificate in the central format; an Assam OBC/MOBC certificate is accepted only for the state quota.

Horizontal quotas applied across categories

These quotas cut across the vertical categories rather than sitting above them. A candidate who qualifies under one of them is still counted within their own SC, ST, OBC/MOBC or General category.

Persons with benchmark disabilities (Divyang). The most recent amendment sets this at 10% of total state quota seats. It is explicitly not a seat over and above the other categories: a disabled candidate is adjusted against the category to which they belong. Disability is assessed at counselling by a Medical Board the DME constitutes from at least three Heads of Orthopaedics departments (or representatives not below Professor) of Assam medical colleges, applying the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and the MCI notification dated 4 February 2019. A separate certificate from an MCC-designated centre is needed for the AIQ disability claim.

Char areas (CA). For sons and daughters of socially, economically and educationally backward classes ordinarily residing in areas covered by the Assam State Char Areas Development Authority. The certificate is on Annexure-VII and the quota is reserved in seats, not stated as a percentage in the current schedule.

Ex-servicemen and serving defence personnel (ExS/SDP). For children of ex-servicemen and serving defence personnel hailing from Assam. Selection follows the Ministry of Defence norms (No. 6(1)/2017/D (Res-II) dated 21 May 2018, as amended), on Annexure-VIII.

Freedom fighters (FF). For sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandsons and granddaughters of the state’s freedom fighters. It needs both a freedom-fighter certificate from the Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Minister of Assam (or the Home Department, signed by an officer not below Joint Secretary or Deputy Secretary) and a certificate from the concerned Deputy Commissioner establishing the direct relationship. Either one alone is not enough.

Extremist-violence and Assam-movement quotas. The rules also reserve seats for family members of persons killed in extremist violence in Assam (one-time benefit per family, on Annexure-IX with a court affidavit) and for family members of martyrs of the Assam movement (on Annexure-X).

Sports. One MBBS seat. The candidate must have qualified in NEET and represented the state in national, Asian or Olympic games, with merit ranked by event tier from Olympic and World level down through Commonwealth and Asian, SAF and national, to state and school games. The minimum is a medal at least at state level in the three years before the entrance exam; ties break on entrance-test marks, then PCB marks of the qualifying examination.

How reserved-to-general conversion works

The rules set out one mechanism worth knowing. A reserved-category candidate who earns a seat on General/Unreserved merit, and chooses to take a seat kept reserved for their category, is counted as a General candidate for the reservation arithmetic. To keep the reserved total intact, one unreserved seat in another college of their next preference is then converted to that reserved category. This protects the headcount of reserved seats rather than letting it shrink when reserved candidates clear on open merit.

How Assam categories map to the All India Quota

Assam state quota	All India Quota equivalent
General / Unreserved	UR
OBC / MOBC (Assam list)	OBC-NCL (central list, central format)
SC	SC
ST(Plain) / ST(Hills)	ST (no plains/hills split at central level)
EWS (Assam Circle-Officer certificate)	EWS
Char areas / TGL / Tai Ahom / Moran / Motak etc.	No direct equivalent (Assam-specific)

If you hold both an Assam category certificate and a central OBC-NCL certificate, each works in its own pool. The Assam-specific community and char-area quotas have no central equivalent, so they apply only in the DME state counselling. The detailed certificate-by-certificate checklist and the round-by-round exit rules for Assam are set out in their own guides.

One caution on the figures. The Divyang share has changed across amendments (3% in 2018, 5% in 2019, then 10% under the 2020 amendment), and the gazette’s later annexures sit in a scanned, hard-to-read tail. Treat the percentages above as the governing rules to date and confirm the exact seat-wise allocation against the current DME Assam notice for the year you apply.

Related Assam guides

• Assam counselling exit rules: round-by-round deposits, deadlines and penalties
• Assam NEET counselling: full document checklist

The Assam NEET counselling process 2026 is run by the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), Assam, through its portal at dme.assam.gov.in. Admission to first-year MBBS and BDS seats in the state’s government medical and dental colleges follows Assam’s gazetted admission rules, the Medical Colleges and Dental Colleges of Assam (Regulation of Admission into 1st year MBBS/BDS Courses) Rules, 2017, as amended up to 2020. The Selection Board that allots seats is chaired by the Director of Medical Education and includes the principals of the government colleges and the Controller of Examinations of Srimanta Sankaradeva University of Health Sciences.

Assam keeps the counselling itself fairly plain. The weight of the decision sits at the back, in a service bond that is one of the heaviest in the country. Understand the bond and the document-release deposit before you accept a government seat, because those two commitments shape the real cost more than any registration fee does.

How seats are split between Assam and the All India Quota

If you are an Assam candidate you are considered for two separate pools. The state quota, run by the DME, takes the bulk of the seats. A 15% All India Quota is carved out of total seats and run by the MCC through national counselling. Six seats go to a Central Pool, and a small block is set aside for North Eastern states that do not have their own state medical college (Nagaland and Meghalaya in the published rules). Seats surrendered back by the centre after All India counselling return to the state pool.

The rules do not restate a bar on holding an All India seat while in Assam counselling, so track both queues and confirm the live notice for the year. Documents and reservation work differently in each pool, which the categories and documents guides cover separately.

Who is eligible for the Assam state quota

The state quota turns on residence and schooling in Assam, proved by two certificates:

1. Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC): in the gazette’s Annexure-I format, certifying 20 years of continuous residency in Assam for the candidate or the father or mother, signed by the Deputy Commissioner of the district. Children of All India Service officers allotted to Assam are exempt from the 20-year rule but must produce a parent’s service certificate instead.
2. Study in Assam: a certificate that the candidate studied all classes from Class VII to XII in Assam and passed the qualifying examination from an institution in the state, signed by the Head Master or Principal of each school attended. A period of study outside Assam is relaxable only if a parent was posted out of state as an Assam government, central government or government corporation employee, evidenced by the parent’s employment certificate.

A NEET qualification is the baseline for every pool. One Assam-specific edge: the first and second rankers of the current year’s Assam higher secondary science examination are placed at the top of their category counselling list regardless of NEET rank, provided they have cleared NEET and apply within seven days.

The Assam NEET counselling process 2026 step by step

Counselling runs through the DME, with seats called in order of merit and category. The broad flow:

1. Register and apply on the DME portal for the state quota, filling personal, academic and NEET details and your category claim.
2. Upload and carry the eligibility set (PRC, study certificate, NEET scorecard, Class 10 and 12 mark sheets, category and special-quota certificates where claimed).
3. Pay the counselling fee of ₹500 to the DME at counselling.
4. Attend document scrutiny. A committee constituted by the DME verifies every eligibility certificate before a seat is offered.
5. Receive a seat by merit and your stated preference order. If your first choice is unavailable, the Board moves to your next preference and so on.
6. Report and take admission within the stipulated time, then pay the college fee and lodge your original certificates.

Round dates are not fixed in the gazette; they follow the MCI/DGHS schedule each year. Check the DME portal and notices for the current cycle’s calendar before you plan travel or payments.

Rounds and how an upgrade works

Allotment happens in a first counselling by merit and preference order. A subsequent counselling then re-calls candidates, both those already admitted and those who did not appear, and lets them change college or course, or take a seat that has fallen vacant, again in merit order.

There is no online freeze or float toggle here. You do not lock a choice on a portal and watch it move. An upgrade comes by re-appearing in the subsequent counselling and being re-allotted in order of merit. A seat you are allotted but do not get admitted to within the stipulated time is forfeited automatically and treated as vacant.

The service bond, the part most candidates underestimate

This is the defining feature of an Assam government seat. Joining a government MBBS seat commits you to five years of Assam government service that must include at least one year of rural posting, against a bond of ₹30,00,000. A government BDS seat carries a ₹20,00,000 bond. Breach the service and you pay the bond amount as compensation.

A 2019 amendment lets the government waive the penalty if you surrender the seat on genuine and justified grounds, with the reasons recorded in writing. That is a discretion, not a right, so do not plan around it.

Deposits, refunds and the document lock

Two money rules decide what leaving costs you:

• Refund on surrender: surrender the seat before the last admission date set by MCI/DGHS and your paid fees are returned after a 10% deduction. Surrender after that date and there is no refund.
• Document-release deposit: your original certificates are held by the college and returned at course completion. If you want them earlier, after the last admission date, you must lodge a bank draft of ₹3 lakh for MBBS (₹2 lakh for BDS), returned only when you resubmit the originals. It is a practical lock against leaving mid-course.

Two more rules bite after you have joined. Staying absent for 20 continuous days after admission, without proper information, forfeits the seat automatically. And if any submitted document is found false, the seat is forfeited at once with no refund of any fee, and criminal proceedings can follow against the candidate and parents.

Money at a glance

Item	Amount	When
Counselling fee	₹500	At counselling, to the DME
Service bond, MBBS	₹30,00,000 (five years’ service incl. one rural year)	On a government MBBS seat
Service bond, BDS	₹20,00,000	On a government BDS seat
Document-release deposit	₹3 lakh (MBBS) / ₹2 lakh (BDS), bank draft	To withdraw originals after the last admission date; refunded on resubmission
Refund before the last date	Fees minus 10%	Surrender before the MCI/DGHS last admission date
Refund after the last date	None	Surrender after the last admission date

Key differences from All India Quota counselling

	Assam state quota (DME)	All India Quota (MCC)
Run by	Directorate of Medical Education, Assam	Medical Counselling Committee
Eligibility	PRC + Class VII to XII study in Assam	Open to all India
Reservation	Assam state categories (OBC/MOBC, SC, ST plains and hills, EWS) plus state horizontal quotas	UR/OBC-NCL/SC/ST/EWS
Upgrade mechanism	Re-appear in subsequent counselling, no online float	Round-based on the MCC portal
Service bond	₹30 lakh MBBS on a government seat	Not set by Assam
OBC certificate	Assam OBC/MOBC certificate	Central OBC-NCL certificate required

The round-by-round exit rules and the full counselling document checklist for Assam are covered in their own guides. Because the gazette’s later annexures sit in a scanned, image-only tail, confirm any change to the bond, deposits or reservation against the current DME Assam rules and the live counselling notice before you report.

Related Assam guides

• Assam counselling exit rules: round-by-round deposits, deadlines and penalties
• Assam NEET counselling: full document checklist

The Himachal Pradesh NEET category list is wider than most states. Beyond the familiar SC, ST, OBC and EWS reservations, Atal Medical & Research University (AMRU) sets aside seats for several Himachal-specific groups: widows and wards of ex-servicemen and serving defence personnel, wards of freedom fighters, candidates from notified backward areas, single girl children, children of Jammu & Kashmir migrants, children of Tibetan refugees, and persons with benchmark disabilities. Reservation is given college-wise as a fixed number of seats per college, not as a single statewide percentage, and almost every reserved seat is meant only for bonafide Himachalis. The figures below follow the 2025 prospectus; confirm the current numbers in the AMRU prospectus each cycle.

How reservation is allotted in Himachal Pradesh

Each government medical college had 120 MBBS seats in 2025. Fifteen per cent (18 seats) go to the All India Quota run by the MCC. The rest form the 85% state quota, which AMRU splits at each college into a reserved Group-A and an unreserved Group-B, plus NRI seats. Because the split is fixed per college rather than as a state-wide ratio, the cleanest way to read it is by an individual college. Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, makes a good example:

Category (IGMC Shimla, 2025)	Seats
All India Quota (15%)	18
Scheduled Caste	15
Scheduled Tribe	7
Other Backward Classes	4
Widows / Wards of Ex-servicemen	1
Wards / Wives of Defence Personnel	1
Ward of Freedom Fighter	1
Backward Area	3
Persons with Disability (PwD)	5
Single Girl Child	1
Children of J&K Migrants	—
Children of Tibetan Refugees	1
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)	10
Unreserved / General (Group-B)	51
NRI quota	2

The reserved counts shift a little college to college. SC seats ran 15 per college at the larger government medical colleges; ST about 7; OBC 2 to 4; EWS 10 (with 7 at the smaller state-quota pool in Ner-Chowk); and PwD 5, set by law at 5% of the sanctioned intake. The defence, freedom-fighter and single-girl-child seats were typically one each per college, and J&K migrant and Tibetan-refugee seats appeared at only some colleges. The two rules that are genuinely percentage-based are the 15% All India Quota and the 5% PwD reservation; the rest are absolute seat counts the state may revise before the first round.

The standard categories

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. For candidates from castes or tribes recognised as SC or ST for Himachal Pradesh, on the prescribed Appendix-2 format. SC and ST seats are inter-transferable: if one category has no eligible candidate, those seats can move to the other.

Other Backward Classes. For candidates on the Himachal OBC list who are not in the creamy layer, certified on the Appendix-3 format by the SDM, Executive Magistrate or Tehsildar after verification from revenue records. An HP OBC certificate works for the state quota only; the All India Quota needs a central-list OBC-NCL certificate in the central format.

Economically Weaker Sections. For candidates not covered by SC, ST or OBC. Himachal’s EWS ceiling is stricter than the central one: gross annual family income must be below ₹4 lakh (not the central ₹8 lakh), counting income from all sources for the financial year before application. A family is excluded from EWS regardless of income if it owns more than 1 hectare of agricultural land (or 500 sq m of urban land), a residential house above 2,500 sq ft, is an income-tax payee, or has a regular or contract government employee. The certificate goes on the Appendix-12 format from the HP competent authority.

Himachal-specific reserved seats

These are the categories that make Himachal’s roster unusual. Each is filled on NEET merit drawn within that category, and each needs its own prescribed certificate.

Widows / wards of ex-servicemen, and wards / wives of defence personnel. Ex-serviceman means retired personnel of the Army, Air Force or Navy; defence personnel means those serving. Seats are filled strictly by the priority order set out in the prospectus (Appendix-20), using the Appendix-4 or Appendix-5 certificate. The candidate must be a bonafide Himachali.

Ward of freedom fighter. For children and grandchildren on the paternal side of a person declared a freedom fighter by the HP Government. The benefit extends to sons and daughters on the maternal side only where the freedom fighter had no son. Certified on Appendix-6.

Backward area. For permanent residents of areas notified as backward by the HP Government, on Appendix-7. The candidate must have passed at least two of the primary, middle, matric, +1 or +2 examinations from schools located in that backward area. If no such candidate is available the seat goes first to any backward-area candidate, and then to the general category. A candidate who studied in a non-backward-area school and moved to a backward-area school mid-session is not eligible.

Single girl child. For a candidate who is the single girl child of her parents with no sibling, certified on Appendix-9, subject to the normal state-quota eligibility.

Children of Jammu & Kashmir migrants. For children of people forced to leave J&K due to terrorism and now residing or rehabilitated elsewhere, certified by the District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner on Appendix-10.

Children of Tibetan refugees. For wards of Tibetan refugees, against seats reserved for them, on Appendix-11. Sponsorship by the Tibetan Government in Exile is mandatory.

Persons with disability (PwD). Five per cent of the sanctioned intake, for candidates with benchmark disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, against the disabilities specified by the NMC for MBBS (Appendix-21) and the DCI for BDS (Appendix-22). The state certificate (Appendix-8) must come from the medical board of IGMC Shimla or Dr. RPGMC Kangra at Tanda and be issued within three months before the first round. A state PwD certificate does not cover an AIQ PwD claim; you need a separate MCC-designated-centre certificate for that.

IRDP / BPL. Reserved seats exist for candidates from Integrated Rural Development Programme and Below Poverty Line families, certified on Appendix-12(b) and signed by the Block Development Officer. These also carry the lowest fees; at the private MM Medical College, Solan, the IRDP/BPL first-year state-quota fee was ₹53,240. BPL students in government colleges pay no tuition fee at all, but must submit a fresh BPL certificate each year to keep the waiver.

The bonafide Himachali condition

Almost all of these reserved seats are restricted to bonafide Himachalis. The Bonafide Himachali certificate, on the Appendix-1 format from the SDM, Executive Magistrate or Tehsildar of the area your parents belong to, is the document that gives you access to them. Only management-quota and NRI seats carry no bonafide Himachali requirement. A candidate who qualifies for the state quota merely as a child of a non-Himachali central government employee posted in HP is treated as unreserved, because the reserved seats are meant for bonafide Himachalis.

Picking one category, and what happens to unfilled seats

You may indicate only one reserved category in the application form, and once submitted it cannot be changed. Choosing a category does not stop you being selected on general combined merit: a reserved-category candidate (other than J&K migrant, Tibetan refugee and NRI) who is good enough to be allotted on the unreserved Group-B merit is counted against the unreserved seats, not against the reserved quota.

Unfilled reserved Group-A seats are treated as unreserved and merged into Group-B when no eligible reserved candidate is available. Vacant J&K migrant and Tibetan-refugee seats go to Group-B on NEET merit. Vacant NRI and PwD seats are filled in the third round from the unreserved merit list at state-quota fees if no eligible category candidate is found, and leftover NRI seats convert to unreserved on overall state merit for the third round only.

Certificate dates to watch

The dates differ by category. HP Bonafide, SC and ST certificates must be issued on or after 1 January 2015. OBC, EWS and the special-category certificates (ex-serviceman, defence, freedom fighter, backward area, single girl child, J&K migrant, Tibetan refugee) must be on or after 1 July 2023. The IRDP/BPL certificate must be issued within six months. Every certificate must be signed, not countersigned, and on the prescribed Appendix format. The full list of certificates, formats and issuing authorities is set out in a separate documents guide.

How Himachal categories map to AIQ

Himachal state quota	All India Quota equivalent
Unreserved / General	UR (Unreserved)
OBC (HP list, non-creamy-layer)	OBC-NCL (central list, central format)
SC	SC
ST	ST
EWS (income below ₹4 lakh, HP criteria)	EWS (income below ₹8 lakh, central criteria)
Backward Area / Single Girl Child / Tibetan Refugee / J&K Migrant / Freedom Fighter / Ex-serviceman / Defence / IRDP-BPL	No direct equivalent

If you hold both an HP category certificate and a valid central one, use each in its own counselling. The Himachal OBC and EWS certificates are accepted for the state quota; for AIQ you need the central-list OBC-NCL certificate and the central EWS criteria. The Himachal-specific seats have no central counterpart at all.

Related Himachal Pradesh guides

• Himachal Pradesh counselling exit rules: round-by-round deposits, deadlines and penalties
• Himachal Pradesh NEET counselling: full document checklist

The Himachal Pradesh NEET counselling process 2026 is run by Atal Medical & Research University (AMRU), the state health university, through its centralised online portal at amruhp.ac.in. AMRU conducts admission to the 85% state quota in six government medical colleges, the government dental college, the state-quota and management seats in three private dental colleges, and the private Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College at Kumarhatti in Solan. The remaining 15% of government college seats go to the All India Quota run by the MCC. The figures below follow the 2025 prospectus (Session 2025-26); AMRU publishes a fresh prospectus each cycle, so confirm the current one before you fill choices.

Official portal: amruhp.ac.in (the entire application and counselling process is online).

How merit works in Himachal Pradesh

Himachal does not build a separate state rank. AMRU prepares a combined and category-wise merit list of all its registered candidates ordered by NEET-UG All India Rank. Your AIR is what positions you for every state-quota seat, so the same number that decides your AIQ chances also drives your Himachal allotment. The list is drawn afresh for each round.

Allotment runs college-wise on merit-cum-choice. You list courses, colleges and quotas in order of preference, and the portal places you against the best available seat your rank and preferences reach.

Who is eligible for the state quota

State-quota (85%) seats are open to NEET-qualified candidates who meet the Himachal eligibility rules. The core route is bonafide Himachali status: you, or your parents, are bonafide residents of Himachal Pradesh, and you have passed at least two of your middle, matric, 10+1 or 10+2 examinations from recognised schools or colleges situated in Himachal and affiliated to HPBOSE, CBSE, ICSE or an equivalent board.

The prospectus carries several exemptions to the two-exams-in-HP schooling rule, for example for children of certain central government and HP government employees posted outside the state, and unconditionally for children of bonafide Himachalis serving in the defence services. Each exemption needs its own prescribed certificate. Children of non-Himachali central government employees working in HP can qualify for state-quota seats under set conditions, but they are treated as unreserved only, because reserved-category seats are meant for bonafide Himachalis.

Management-quota seats in the private colleges are the exception. They carry no bonafide Himachali requirement, so both Himachali and non-Himachali Indian candidates may apply for them on the common merit list. NRI seats also have no domicile condition.

The prospectus sets eligibility by reference to the National Medical Commission’s qualifying criteria rather than stating its own minimum NEET percentile or age cut-off, so check the NMC norms and the current AMRU prospectus for those thresholds.

Registration and the application fee

You apply and fill preferences entirely online at amruhp.ac.in. In 2025 the steps ran like this:

1. Register and fill the online application form, then pay the application fee through the portal.
2. Upload documents and a photo and signature that meet AMRU’s exact size and background specifications. Wrongly formatted uploads get the form rejected, so this is worth getting right the first time.
3. Fill your preferences of course, college and quota, and lock them within the window.
4. Generate and keep the confirmation copy. If it does not generate, the application has not been submitted.

The application fee is ₹2,500 for General, NRI, OBC and other categories, ₹1,500 for SC, ST and EWS, and free for candidates with disabilities. It is non-refundable.

Document verification is not centralised. After each provisional allotment you download the allotment letter from the portal and report to the principal of the allotted college with the confirmation copy, the allotment letter, all originals and self-attested photocopies. Admission follows verification of originals, confirmation of eligibility, medical fitness and payment of fees.

The token fee: Himachal’s distinctive lever

Round 1 takes no token. From the second round on, any candidate who wants to take part has to deposit a token amount before a seat can be allocated, and the amount scales with the kind of seat you are chasing:

Seat type	Token amount
Government medical / dental college	₹10,000
Private dental college (state & management quota)	₹50,000
MMMC Kumarhatti (state & management quota)	₹1,00,000
NRI quota seat	₹2,00,000

If you opt for more than one quota or course or college, you pay the highest applicable token. The token is refunded for any round where you are not allotted a seat. It is forfeited if a seat is allotted to you and you do not join. Candidates already admitted in Round 1 to a government medical or dental college, or to a private dental college, are exempt from the token for the second round, and a token paid in the second round carries over so you need not pay it again in the third.

There is no separate freeze button. If you go into a later round for an upgrade and the upgrade does not come through, your earlier seat and category stay exactly as they were.

Round-by-round structure

AMRU runs four centralised rounds. Upgrades are allowed up to the third round; the stray round offers none.

Round 1. You submit preferences with the application form. AMRU publishes the provisional and final merit lists, then allots seats category-wise. Join the allotted college within the joining window. If you are satisfied, you do not have to take part in any later round.

Round 2. Everyone who wants to participate, including fresh registrants, submits new preferences and locks them; old choices do not carry forward. To seek an upgrade you pay the token for the seat type you are targeting. A candidate already admitted in Round 1 must provisionally surrender that seat before re-filling. If you take part but do not get an upgrade, your earlier seat and category are retained unchanged.

Round 3. Fresh preferences again, with the same token rules (carried over if already paid in Round 2). This is the last round for upgrades. NRI and PwD seats left vacant are filled in this round from the unreserved merit list at state-quota fees, and unfilled NRI seats convert to unreserved on overall state merit for this round only. A candidate allotted in Round 3 who does not join is barred from any later round and forfeits that token.

Stray vacancy round. After the third round, AMRU holds a single centralised stray round for the seats still vacant; there is no institutional mop-up. No upgrades happen here. If your name is on the MCC portal on the day of a Himachal Round 3 or stray allocation, you are not considered for a Himachal seat that day, so a live All India allotment quietly removes you from the state queue.

For reference, the 2025 cycle opened on 20 July, ran Round 1 joining on 8-9 August, and finished the stray-round joining by 1 October. The 2026 dates will differ; treat these only as the shape of the calendar.

Seat matrix in government medical colleges

Each of the six government medical colleges had a sanctioned intake of 120 MBBS seats in 2025, split as follows per college:

Allocation	Per government medical college
Total seats	120
All India Quota (15%)	18
State quota seats	102 (66 at Ner-Chowk, where 36 go to the ESI quota)
NRI quota	2 to 4

The state-quota block at each college divides into a reserved group (Group-A) and an unreserved group (Group-B), with the per-college counts shown in the categories guide. Note the one exception: Sh. Lal Bahadur Shastri GMC, Ner-Chowk, sets aside 36 of its state-quota seats for the ESI quota, leaving 66 for the general state-quota pool.

The government dental college at Shimla had 75 seats and three private dental colleges run 60-100 seats each, mixing state-quota, management-quota and NRI seats. The private Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College at Kumarhatti, Solan, had 150 MBBS seats provisionally split 25% state quota (38 seats) and 75% management quota (112), plus NRI seats; that split is subject to pending High Court orders.

Fees at government colleges

Government college fees are modest. First-year MBBS came to ₹60,000 in total (₹40,000 tuition, plus admission, student, medical and dilapidated funds, and a refundable ₹6,000 security deposit); later MBBS years cost ₹50,000. First-year BDS at the government dental college was ₹45,000 total (₹30,000 tuition, refundable ₹5,000 security); later BDS years cost ₹37,000. NRI candidates in government colleges pay US $20,000 a year for MBBS and US $10,000 for BDS. BPL students in government colleges pay no tuition fee, and candidates with more than 40% disability are not charged fees in any AMRU-affiliated course. Private college and management-quota fees run far higher and are set separately by the state government.

How Himachal counselling differs from AIQ

	Himachal state quota	MCC All India Quota
Authority	Atal Medical & Research University (AMRU)	Medical Counselling Committee (MCC)
Rank used	NEET All India Rank (no separate state rank)	NEET All India Rank
Eligibility	Bonafide Himachali for reserved/state seats; open for management/NRI	Open to all India
Rounds	3 + stray vacancy round	Multiple rounds + stray
Token before upgrade rounds	Yes, ₹10,000 to ₹2,00,000 by seat type	No token of this kind
Document verification	At the allotted college	At the allotted college
Registration	amruhp.ac.in	mcc.nic.in

The exact round-by-round exit rules, deposits and what happens in each scenario are set out in a separate exit-rules guide, and the full list of certificates you need is in a separate documents guide. Read both alongside the current AMRU prospectus before you file your choices.

Related Himachal Pradesh guides

• Himachal Pradesh counselling exit rules: round-by-round deposits, deadlines and penalties
• Himachal Pradesh NEET counselling: full document checklist

The Jharkhand NEET category list for state-quota counselling, run by the Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (JCECEB), covers the reserved categories recognised by the Government of Jharkhand plus horizontal quotas like Persons with Disabilities. The official 2025 counselling notice states that the current reservation policy of the Government of Jharkhand applies, and it names the categories without printing a percentage table in the counselling document itself. So this guide tells you which categories exist, how to work out which one is yours, and the proofs each one needs. Where a specific percentage is not stated in the notice, confirm it against the JCECEB prospectus before you rely on it.

The Jharkhand reserved categories

Jharkhand reservation in medical admission is built on the state’s caste and community lists. The categories the JCECEB notice recognises:

• SC (Scheduled Caste): per the Jharkhand Scheduled Caste list.
• ST (Scheduled Tribe): per the Jharkhand Scheduled Tribe list. Jharkhand has one of the larger tribal populations in the country, and ST is a substantial category here.
• BC-I (Backward Class I) and BC-II (Backward Class II): Jharkhand splits its backward classes into two lists rather than running a single OBC bucket. Your community sits in one or the other per the state schedule.
• EWS (Economically Weaker Sections): for General-category candidates who meet the income-and-assets test, following the state Personnel Department memo of 15 February 2019.
• PTG (Primitive Tribal Group): Jharkhand extends reservation benefit to candidates from Primitive Tribal Groups under a Personnel Department memorandum of 28 June 2016. This sits inside the state’s tribal framework.

Candidates whose community is not in any of these schedules are treated as unreserved (General).

How to determine your Jharkhand category

Your category is set by the certificate you hold, issued in the proper state format by the competent authority. For every reserved claim that authority is the same office: the Circle Officer, the Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil), or the Deputy Commissioner of Jharkhand State. Work through it in this order:

• SC or ST: if your community appears on the Jharkhand SC or ST schedule, you hold a caste certificate in that category. PTG candidates establish their status through the Jharkhand tribal-status certificate.
• BC-I or BC-II: if your community is on either backward-class list, you need a caste certificate that names the right sub-list. There is an extra condition here, covered below.
• EWS: if you are General and your family meets the income-and-assets criteria, you claim EWS with an Income & Assets Certificate, which is a different document from a caste certificate.
• General: if none of the above applies, you compete as unreserved.

The creamy-layer condition for BC-I and BC-II

This is where Jharkhand backward-class candidates lose seats at verification. A BC-I or BC-II caste certificate is valid for the reservation benefit only if you are outside the creamy layer, and the certificate itself must state that you do not belong to the creamy layer. A certificate that simply records your community without that line will not carry the reservation claim through. The rule comes from the state Personnel Department resolution of 25 February 2019, and JCECEB applies it at the document-verification stage. Get the certificate worded correctly the first time; a re-issue under deadline pressure is how candidates miss reporting windows.

EWS expires every year

EWS is not a one-time status. The Income & Assets Certificate is tied to a financial year, so a certificate from a previous year will not be accepted. Get it freshly dated for the current admission cycle, from the same competent authority (CO, SDO-Civil or Deputy Commissioner).

Persons with Disabilities (PwD / Divyang): the Jharkhand routing rule

Reservation for candidates with disabilities follows the directions for admission of PwD candidates in MBBS and BDS under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, as set out in the relevant annexure of the issued notice. The Jharkhand-specific catch is who issues the certificate.

For the state quota, the Department of Health, Medical Education & Family Welfare has authorised RIMS, Ranchi to issue the disability certificate for MBBS, BDS and BHMS admission from the academic year 2025-26 (departmental letter of 29 August 2023). A disability certificate from a Civil Surgeon is no longer valid for the state PwD claim. If you are also pursuing the All India Quota, that pool needs a separate certificate from one of the MCC’s designated national centres; a state RIMS certificate does not cover AIQ, and an AIQ certificate does not cover the state claim. Apply early, because assessment slots at the designated board are limited.

The unreserved-fallback trap in choice filling

A reserved category is an advantage only if you let the system use it as one. In the JCECEB online form, a reserved-category candidate who wants to be considered against an unreserved seat (when the reserved seat is not available, taken as the second choice) must select “Yes” for the unreserved option. Mark a reserved seat as your first choice and “None” for unreserved, and you remove your own safety net: the board will not place you against an unreserved seat as a fallback. Set the unreserved preference on purpose. For unreserved-category candidates this fixed-choice logic does not arise.

State category vs central category, for the two pools

As a Jharkhand candidate you sit in two seat pools at once: the 85% state quota run by JCECEB and the 15% All India Quota run by the MCC. They do not accept each other’s category certificates interchangeably.

Your situation	State quota (JCECEB)	All India Quota (MCC)
Backward class	Jharkhand BC-I / BC-II certificate (with non-creamy-layer line)	Central OBC-NCL certificate, central format
SC / ST	Jharkhand SC / ST certificate	SC / ST in the central format
EWS	Jharkhand Income & Assets Certificate, current year	Central EWS certificate
PwD	RIMS, Ranchi certificate	MCC-designated national centre certificate

A Jharkhand BC-I or BC-II certificate works for the state quota but is rejected for AIQ; if your community is also on the Central OBC-NCL list, get the central certificate as well so you can claim in both pools. Jharkhand’s PTG benefit and the BC-I / BC-II split have no direct central equivalent, so a candidate relying on those competes as their nearest recognised category in the AIQ.

The certificates each category needs

Every reserved claim rests on a document issued in the proper Jharkhand format by the competent revenue authority. The full checklist, with issuing offices, costs and timing, is in our separate Jharkhand documents guide. The short version:

• Local / Permanent Resident Certificate: needed by every state-quota candidate, reserved or not.
• Caste certificate: SC, ST, BC-I or BC-II, with the non-creamy-layer line for BC-I and BC-II.
• Income & Assets Certificate: for EWS, dated in the current year.
• PTG / tribal-status certificate: for Primitive Tribal Group candidates.
• Disability certificate from RIMS, Ranchi: for the PwD horizontal quota under the state claim.

The exact reservation percentages for each category are governed by the current Government of Jharkhand reservation policy rather than fixed in the counselling notice, so check the live JCECEB prospectus for this cycle’s figures before planning around any specific number.

Related Jharkhand guides

• Jharkhand counselling exit rules: round-by-round deposits, deadlines and penalties
• Jharkhand NEET counselling: full document checklist

The Jharkhand NEET counselling process 2026 is run by the Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (JCECEB), through its online portal at jceceb.jharkhand.gov.in. JCECEB prepares the state merit list and conducts counselling for the 85% state quota in MBBS, BDS and BHMS seats across government and private medical colleges in Jharkhand. The 15% All India Quota in government colleges is handled separately by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC). The two run on different calendars, so a Jharkhand candidate can take part in both.

Authority: Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (JCECEB), Science & Technology Campus, Sirkha Toli, Namkum-Tupudana Road, Namkum, Ranchi. Portal: jceceb.jharkhand.gov.in. The figures and rules below reflect the NEET UG 2025 cycle notice (Advt. 28/25), the latest published when this page was prepared. The 2026 notice updates the dates; the structure has held steady. Read the live notice before you file any choices.

Who is eligible

The first gate is residence, and it is a hard one. To take part in the Jharkhand NEET counselling process 2026 you must be a citizen of India and a Local or Permanent Resident of Jharkhand. There is no non-domicile route into the state quota; this is not a preference you can waive. The “Local Resident of Jharkhand” status is the one defined in the state’s Personnel Department resolution of 18 April 2016, and you prove it with a residential certificate from the competent authority, the Circle Officer, the Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil) or the Deputy Commissioner. A provisional certificate from the CO or SDO is accepted at the counselling stage.

The other conditions:

1. NEET UG 2025 qualified. You must have qualified NEET (UG) 2025 and uploading your NEET scorecard is mandatory.
2. Age: completed 17 years on or before 31 December of the admission year. There is no upper age limit.
3. Academics: passed Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Biotechnology and English individually, with at least 50% marks taken together in Physics, Chemistry and Biology/Biotechnology in the qualifying exam (40% for SC/ST/OBC, 40% for General-EWS, 45% for General PwD), per NMC and DCI regulations.

How the Jharkhand state merit list works

JCECEB does not allot state-quota seats off your raw All India Rank. It draws up a separate State Merit List from the NEET scores of all registered Jharkhand-resident candidates, and that list sets your place in the counselling queue. The board publishes a fresh State Merit List for each round before choice filling begins. A claim made in the online application form is what gets you onto that list, so the form has to be filled correctly the first time.

Candidates already included in the State Merit List for an earlier round do not refill the online application form for later rounds; they carry forward.

Registration and fees

Registration is entirely online on the JCECEB portal. You fill the application form, upload your documents, and pay two distinct fees through the payment gateway by card, net banking or UPI.

Fee	General / EWS / BC-I / BC-II	SC / ST / Female / Divyang
Registration / application fee	₹500	₹250
Counselling fee (non-refundable)	₹1,000	₹500

Beyond the fees sits a refundable security deposit, paid at counselling and tiered by the type of college you are placed in. This is the money that controls whether you can walk away from a seat, so it matters more than the headline fee.

Seat type	Security deposit
Government college (UR / EWS)	₹20,000
Government college (SC / ST / OBC / PwD)	₹10,000
Private or deemed, medical (MBBS)	₹2,00,000
Private or deemed, dental (BDS)	₹1,00,000
Stray / mop-up round	₹50,000

The deposit comes back. JCECEB refunds it within three months after the last round of counselling, provided you either took a valid admission or were not allotted a seat at a later stage. The counselling fee does not come back at all.

The four rounds and the schedule

JCECEB runs four online rounds: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, and a Stray Vacancy (mop-up) round. Each round follows the same shape. New candidates submit the application form, the board publishes that round’s State Merit List, the vacant seat matrix is displayed, choice filling opens, the provisional seat allotment letter is issued, and you report to the allotted institute for document verification and admission. The 2025 cycle ran like this:

Round	Choice filling	Allotment / merit list	Report & admit by
Round 1	30 Jul – 4 Aug 2025	Merit list 29 Jul; allotment from 6 Aug	7–12 Aug 2025
Round 2	19–26 Aug 2025	Merit list 18 Aug; allotment from 19 Aug	30 Aug – 4 Sep 2025
Round 3	9–15 Sep 2025	Merit list 8 Sep; allotment from 9 Sep	19–23 Sep 2025
Stray vacancy	25–27 Sep 2025	Merit list 24 Sep	30 Sep – 3 Oct 2025

Treat the 2025 dates as a template for sequencing, not as 2026 dates. Read the current notice for the live calendar.

Choice filling and how allotment works

You fill fresh preferences in every round, and there is no cap on how many institutes and courses you can list. JCECEB advises you to list as many as you genuinely want, because the seat is given on merit-cum-choice: the board takes your State Merit Rank and walks down your preference order until a seat is available. A short list narrows your own odds. You can also edit your filled choices on the specified date by logging in again, so you can refine the order right up to that round’s deadline.

Have you set your unreserved fallback deliberately? This is the trap that costs Jharkhand candidates seats. If you mark a reserved-category seat as your first choice and select “None” for the unreserved option, you will not be considered for an unreserved seat when the reserved seat you wanted is unavailable. A reserved-category candidate is meant to put “Yes” so the board can place them against an unreserved seat as a second-choice fallback. Leave it as “None” and that fallback simply does not happen.

What happens after allotment, and when the deposit bites

Once a round allots you a seat, you download the provisional allotment letter from the portal and report to the allotted institute within the reporting window for document verification and admission. The behaviour of the security deposit is what separates Round 1 from the rest.

• Round 1 is forgiving. A seat you are allotted in Round 1 but choose not to take carries no penalty. You can let a low seat go and refile a longer, better-ordered preference list for Round 2.
• From Round 2 the deposit is at risk. If you are allotted a seat in Round 2 or any later round and then do not take admission, your security deposit is forfeited. The same forfeiture applies if your admission is cancelled for giving wrong information or for failing to produce your original certificates.

That single rule is the heart of strategy in Jharkhand. There is no separate freeze or float button on the portal; the only levers are your preference list and the decision to take an allotted admission. Because of the tiered deposit, a Round 2 private or deemed allotment you abandon costs ₹2 lakh, while abandoning a government allotment costs ₹20,000. Build your preference list so that anything you would actually refuse never sits ahead of something you would accept.

How Jharkhand state counselling differs from AIQ

	Jharkhand state (JCECEB)	All India Quota (MCC)
Rank used	Jharkhand State Merit Rank (state residents only)	NEET All India Rank
Eligibility	Jharkhand local / permanent resident only	Open to all India
Category certificate	Jharkhand-format BC-I / BC-II / SC / ST / EWS	Central-list OBC-NCL and central formats
Rounds	3 + stray vacancy	Separate MCC schedule
Registration	jceceb.jharkhand.gov.in	MCC portal
Document verification	At the allotted institute	At the allotted institute

One practical consequence: a Jharkhand BC-I or BC-II certificate is valid for the state quota only. For the 15% AIQ you need a Central OBC-NCL certificate in the central format. If you intend to use both pools, arrange both certificates before counselling opens.

The round-by-round exit rules, deposit-forfeiture decisions and refund timing are covered in more depth in our separate Jharkhand exit-rules guide, and the full certificate checklist with issuing authorities sits in our Jharkhand documents guide. JCECEB states that counselling follows MCC guidelines; where the live notice differs from anything here, the notice on the board’s website is the authority.

Related Jharkhand guides

• Jharkhand counselling exit rules: round-by-round deposits, deadlines and penalties
• Jharkhand NEET counselling: full document checklist