MCC opens NEET SS Special Stray Round; register by 28 Sep

NEW DELHI: Doctors chasing leftover DM, M.Ch and DNB Super Speciality seats have a short new window. On 25 September the Medical Counselling Committee posted a notice on Special Stray Vacancy Round of SS Counselling 2025, and published the matching schedule after the Hon'ble Supreme Court's order dated 17 September 2026 in W.P. (Civil) No. 771 of 2026 (Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association & Anr Vs Union of India & Ors).

The Special Stray round follows a cut in the qualifying percentile from the 50th to the 30th percentile. It covers D.M, M.Ch and DNB SS seats left vacant after Round 2, and is a non-upgradation round. Candidates who got no seat earlier, and those who become eligible after the percentile cut, can take part. Holders of a seat from an earlier round cannot use this window to move up.

Registration and choice clocks

Registration opens from 25 September and runs till 3:00 PM on 28 September as per server time. Payment stays open till 6:00 PM on 28 September. Choice filling is available from 25 September up to 12:00 noon on 29 September. Choice locking runs from 8:00 PM on 28 September to noon on 29 September.

Seat allotment is processed on 29 September. The result is listed for 30 September. Reporting at the allotted institute runs from 1 to 6 October 2026. MCC has told participating institutes to treat Saturdays, Sundays and holidays as working days so the tight calendar holds. Families planning travel for reporting should book around that six-day window rather than wait for a further extension that the schedule does not promise.

A companion Clear Vacancy sheet for the Special Stray Round, uploaded the same day on the Super Speciality counselling page, lists institute-wise open DM, M.Ch and DNB SS seats across States. The first pages already show Cardiac Anaesthesia, Neuro Anaesthesia and other branches in government and trust hospitals from Assam and Delhi to Gujarat and Haryana. Candidates should download that matrix before locking choices rather than rely on informal forwards.

Tamil Nadu in-service seats and who can join

MCC notes that in-service vacant seats of Tamil Nadu, if any remain after that State's own stray round, are expected to be reverted by the State counselling authority on 28 September. Once received, those seats will be added to the All India SS Counselling 2025 seat matrix. Aspirants watching Tamil Nadu government college blocks should refresh the matrix after that date before they treat a preference list as final.

Only candidates who were not allotted in previous rounds, and those freshly eligible after the percentile reduction, are invited. Anyone allotted must report between 1 and 6 October with original documents as per the counselling guidance already on mcc.nic.in. Failure to report, or failure to produce originals, risks cancellation under the usual MCC rules for Super Speciality rounds.

Keep the 25 September notice (Ref. U-12021/01/2026-MEC), the Special Stray schedule PDF and the Clear Vacancy sheet together. Registration closes at 3:00 PM on 28 September. Missing that cut ends the All India Super Speciality chance for this session. For further updates, MCC asks candidates to remain in touch with www.mcc.nic.in rather than third-party summaries.