NMC Launches New Online Portal for Filing Board Appeals

If your medical college has ever disagreed with a decision from one of NMC's boards — MARB (for new colleges and seat increases), UGMEB (undergraduate matters), or PGMEB (postgraduate and faculty matters) — you already know the appeal process involved paperwork, emails, and a fair bit of back-and-forth. That's changing. Starting 1 July 2026, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has made it compulsory to file every appeal through a single, dedicated Online Appeal Portal. Here's what that means for your institution, in plain language.

Why NMC Built a Dedicated Appeal Portal

NMC had earlier prescribed the procedure and fee for filing appeals through Public Notices dated 21.05.2024 and 30.05.2024. But appeals kept getting delayed or rejected for avoidable reasons — filed under the wrong section of the NMC Act, missing documents, or sent to the wrong authority altogether. To fix this, NMC built a single online system meant to make the whole process transparent, faster, and easier to track, for appeals against decisions of MARB, UGMEB, and PGMEB under various provisions of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.

What's Changing From 1 July 2026

The biggest change is simple: the old ways of filing an appeal — by email or any other channel — are discontinued with immediate effect. From the date of the Public Notice (1 July 2026) onward, every single appeal must go through the portal. There's no parallel track anymore, and no exceptions for colleges that prefer to stick with the older process.

A college administrator presents board-decision data to colleagues, the kind of review that often precedes filing a formal appeal.

Who Can File an Appeal, and Against What

The portal is meant for Medical Colleges and Institutions appealing against orders or decisions issued by NMC's three autonomous boards — the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), the Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB), and the Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB). This covers a wide range of situations: a college disagreeing with an assessment outcome, a penalty, a rejection of an application to start a new course or increase seats, or various other orders passed under the NMC Act and its Regulations.

You can access the portal in two ways: by clicking the Appeal icon after logging in through your college's login on the NMC website, or by going directly to the portal at application.nmc.org.in/login. If your college has already applied to MARB for establishing a new medical college for Academic Year 2026–27 and now wants to appeal a MARB decision, a follow-up notice dated 9 July 2026 clarifies you don't need a separate portal account — simply use the same email ID and password you used for your original MARB application.

How to File Your Appeal, Step by Step

NMC's user manual lays out a fairly straightforward flow once you're logged in:

After logging in, your dashboard shows a quick summary — total appeal applications, pending appeals, appeals disposed of, applications not admitted, and any deficiencies raised — along with a "Add New Appeal" button to start a fresh one. Filing a new appeal walks you through several sections: verifying your pre-filled college information, choosing the Board and the relevant Section/Regulation of the NMC Act you're appealing under, selecting the academic year and course, and then entering the order number and date of the decision you're challenging, along with an upload of that order and your appeal letter (both PDF, up to 5MB each).

There's also a Supplementary Documents section — optional, but useful — where you can attach things like a Show Cause Notice, your Compliance Report, any Inspection or Assessment Report, or a Self-Declaration Form, if these are relevant to your case. Once everything is filled in, you tick the declaration checkbox confirming the information is true and correct, and either save it as a draft or move straight to payment and submission.

A faculty development session briefs staff on new NMC compliance procedures, including how to prepare appeal documentation.

What You'll Need to Pay

The appeal fee is ₹50,000 plus 18% GST — a total of ₹59,000 — payable through the portal via online payment gateway, or NEFT/RTGS. This is a one-time, non-refundable fee, and your appeal is only officially registered once the payment goes through successfully. You'll get an Appeal ID for tracking once the payment and submission are complete.

What Happens After You Submit

Once submitted, your appeal moves into NMC's processing pipeline, visible on your dashboard as "Pending," and later marked as "Disposed of" once a decision is made. If NMC's Policy & Coordination Division needs more information or documents from you, those requests and your replies also happen through the same portal, and any final Appeal Order is made available there too. This keeps everything — your original filing, communications, and the outcome — in one traceable place instead of scattered across emails.

Getting Ready to File

Before you start, it helps to have your login credentials ready (the same ones used for your MARB application, if applicable), a clear copy of the order you're appealing, your appeal letter drafted and ready as a PDF, and clarity on exactly which Section of the NMC Act your appeal falls under — NMC has specifically flagged incorrect section selection as one of the most common reasons appeals get stuck. Reading the Terms & Conditions and User Manual on the portal before you begin is worth the ten minutes it takes; it can save weeks of back-and-forth later.

For more on how second appeals to the Central Government work under Sections 28(6), 35(7) and 36(3) of the NMC Act — including timelines and what happens if NMC doesn't decide within 45 days — see our step-by-step guide to Central Government appeals and our companion FAQ on second appeals to the Central Government.

This article is based on NMC Public Notices dated 01-07-2026, 02-07-2026 and 09-07-2026 regarding the Online Appeal Portal. It is for general information only and is not legal advice. Always verify current procedures on the official NMC portal before filing.