Maharashtra MBBS counselling: round-by-round exit rules
Maharashtra works differently from most states. For state-quota government seats, you pay no big security deposit before choice filling. Instead, the state keeps your original certificates until the course ends, and one form decides whether you keep your seat or stay in for a better one. The big money is a ₹10 lakh bond, and it only applies if you leave the course, not during counselling.
Joining a seat in Maharashtra doesn't lock it in. To hold a seat, you report to the college, pay the fee and hand over your original certificates. After that, one piece of paper decides everything: the Status Retention Form. Submit it and the seat is yours for good, and you drop out of all the later rounds (the freeze). Leave it unsubmitted and you stay in for a better seat (the float). Reporting alone doesn't keep the seat, and once you submit the form, there's no taking it back.
You fill fresh choices every round. Last round's list is cleared and nothing carries over.
You're allotted in Round 1 and want to aim higher
You report, verify your documents and pay the fee at the allotted college. You don't submit the Status Retention Form, and you fill fresh Round 2 choices. If you get a better seat in Round 2, your Round 1 seat is released the moment you move. If you get nothing, you keep Round 1.
The catch is the money, and nobody warns you about it. To hold that Round 1 seat while you try for better, you have to pay its fee. At a government college that's small. But if your Round 1 seat is in a private college, you pay that college's fee, often several lakh for the year, just to keep your place in the queue. You pay it once to hold the seat; if you later upgrade to a different college, you pay that college's fee instead.
Questions the full playbook answers
- If I skip Round 1 reporting, am I out? (No, and the real rule surprises people.)
- I tried to upgrade and landed in a private seat I can't afford. Am I trapped?
- When does the ₹10 lakh penalty actually apply, and when does it never touch you?
- Can I do Maharashtra and All India counselling at the same time?
- I submitted the Status Retention Form. Is there any way back?
- Do I get my fee back if I cancel?
- A Round 3 seat lands in my lap. What are my options, honestly?
- What's the difference between resigning and just not reporting?
Money at a glance
- Registration (state quota)
- ₹1,000. No security deposit upfront.
- Cancel before the council cut-off
- ₹1,500 is deducted and the rest is refunded.
- The ₹10 lakh penalty
- It applies at the last round, not during counselling.
- Holding a seat while you upgrade
- You pay that college's fee once to hold the seat.
Get the Maharashtra NEET Exit Playbook (PDF)
The full round-by-round decision tree, all 12 scenarios with exact outcomes, the money map and a fill-in deadlines sheet.
Cutoff Analyzer
See how Maharashtra closing ranks moved across colleges, categories and rounds.
Open Cutoff AnalyzerCollege Predictor
Enter your rank and category to see safe, target and reach colleges.
Open College PredictorSource & disclaimer
Verified NEET UG 2025Source: Maharashtra government medical college admission brochure (CET Cell format) 2025-26, read directly, with reservation cross-checked against DMER-format documents. The SEBC quota's 2025 application was contested. Figures and rules reflect the 2025 cycle; the 2026 brochure was not published when this page was prepared, and the page updates when it releases. It is a navigation aid, not the official notification; read the current CET Cell brochure at cetcell.mahacet.org before filing choices.