New Delhi: The Supreme Court today (August 2, 2004) gave a week more time to the States to give reasons as to why they did not comply with the time schedule for completing admissions to MBBS courses in Government medical colleges.

Hearing a bunch of petitions filed by aspiring doctors, a Bench comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice D M Dharmadhikari asked the States to file the necessary information before the Court by August 9 till when the case was adjourned.

The Court had earlier asked the Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of 15 states including Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to supply all information in this regard and posted the matter for further hearing today.

Petitioners had requested the Court to direct Director General of Health Services (DGHS) to postpone the second round of counselling for the All India Quota admissions in view of the delay in admissions process of the State medical colleges.

As per the schedule, each State is required to complete counselling by July 25 so as to complete the admission process by July 31, 2004.

The Bench had directed concerned State Government officials to remain present in Court on August 2, 2004 to show compliance of the time schedule for admissions and "the reasons for non-compliance."