Maharashtra NEET UG 2026: 3 Colleges Turning Private Universities Will Skip CAP Round 1 — Notice No. 11

The Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell has issued Notice No. 11 for NEET UG 2026, informing candidates that three private medical/dental colleges are in the process of becoming private universities. Because this conversion is still underway, these colleges will not be part of the First Admission Round (Round 1) of the Centralised Admission Process (CAP) for MBBS/BDS seats this year. They are expected to join a later round once the university-formation formalities are complete. The notice also spells out the special rules — on domicile quota, fees, and scholarships — that will apply to these colleges once they officially become private universities. This is an administrative update, not a schedule or result, but it directly affects which colleges candidates can pick in Round 1.

What exactly has happened

Maharashtra's Medical Education and Drugs Department informed the State CET Cell that three private colleges have started the process of setting up their own private universities. A private university, once approved, runs its own admission and fee framework for a college, separate from the usual state medical college structure.

Because this university-formation process is not yet complete, the State CET Cell has decided these three colleges will sit out the First Admission Round of NEET UG 2026 counselling for MBBS/BDS. They are expected to be added back into the admission process in a subsequent round, once all formalities for their respective private universities are finished.

The three colleges affected

These are the colleges named in the notice, along with the course they run:

• Dr. Vithalrao Vikhe Patil Foundation's Medical College, Ahilyanagar — MBBS
• N.K.P. Salve Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagpur — MBBS
• Ranjit Deshmukh Dental College and Research Centre, Nagpur — BDS

What this means for CAP Round 1

If you are filling your choices for the First Admission Round of Maharashtra's NEET UG 2026 CAP, these three colleges will simply not show up in the option list for Round 1. Do not expect to see or select seats at these institutions in that round.

The notice says these colleges 'shall participate in the subsequent admission round' — meaning they could reappear from Round 2 onward, but only after they have completed all necessary approvals as private universities. No specific round or date is mentioned in the notice for when this will happen, so candidates should keep checking official CAP updates for confirmation before assuming these colleges will be available in any particular later round.

Rules that apply once a college becomes a private university

The notice refers to Clause 9.3 of the NEET UG 2026 Information Brochure, which lays down special conditions for colleges that become private universities. Once these three colleges get formal recognition/approval as private universities, the following will apply to them:

• Domicile quota: Only 40% of the institutional seats (the college's own seats, as opposed to seats filled through the state's general CAP quota rules) will be reserved for candidates holding a Maharashtra Domicile Certificate.
• Fees: The fee will not follow the state's standard Fee Fixation Committee rate. Instead, it will be set by a separate Fee Fixation Committee constituted by that private university itself.
• No scholarships or fee reimbursement: Students admitted to these colleges will not be eligible for any government scholarship scheme or fee reimbursement scheme, even if they otherwise qualify for such benefits (for example, under caste-based or EWS reimbursement schemes) at other colleges.

Why this matters for your choice-filling strategy

These three points are important traps to watch for once these colleges reappear in later CAP rounds. A candidate who is depending on a state scholarship or fee reimbursement scheme to afford MBBS/BDS fees should be cautious about choosing a seat at these colleges after they convert to private universities, since none of the usual government fee-relief schemes will apply there.

Similarly, if you are counting on a general Maharashtra domicile-based seat-share expectation, remember that at these particular colleges, domicile-quota seats will be capped at 40% of institutional seats — different from how seat-sharing normally works elsewhere in Maharashtra's CAP system.

Because the fee will be decided independently by each university's own Fee Fixation Committee, the fee at these colleges may differ significantly from other private medical/dental colleges under CAP. Candidates should verify the applicable fee directly from official sources before opting for these colleges once they are available in a later round.

Frequently asked questions

If you are shortlisting colleges for Maharashtra's NEET UG 2026 CAP Round 1, remove these three colleges from your option list for now and keep tracking official CET Cell updates to see if and when they rejoin a later round. If they do reappear, carefully check the applicable fee and domicile-quota terms before opting for them, since the usual scholarship, fee, and domicile rules will not apply there.