The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Fewer medical seats for aspirants this time

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Wednesday, Jun 04, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Fewer medical seats for aspirants this time

Deepa Kurup

Number of seats under KEA will be reduced by 52
Three deemed varsities have opted out of COMED-K

BANGALORE: Here’s some bad news for medical seat aspirants in the State. With the Sri Siddhartha College in Tumkur recently pronounced a deemed university, the number of medical seats under Karnataka Examination Authority will be reduced by 52.

The number of seats available under the COMED-K will be affected more than CET — about 640 seats compared with 820 last year — with the three deemed universities opting out of the consortium this year.

BLDE Association’s B.M. Patil Medical College in Bijapur, KLE Society’s Belgaum-based Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Sri Devraj Urs University, Kolar, have conducted their own nationwide entrance examination. Sources say that the response to these exams has not been very good in its maiden year.

JSS College of Medicine, Mysore, is likely to join this list, though there is no official order yet.

Both the Karnataka Examination Authority and the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges-Karnataka have received communication to this effect.

With Ambedkar Medical College in the city being blacklisted by the Medical Council of India (as put up on its website), COMED-K Executive Secretary S. Kumar says that they will play it safe and await proper confirmation on their admission status before they are included in the counselling process.

With nearly 16 more colleges waiting deemed universities status from the University Grants Commission, the State Government could find it tough to allot seats with an affordable fee structure to students. Deemed universities are allowed the freedom to fix their own fees and conduct their own examination.

Previously, the State Government had appealed to the Union Government to let them retain at least 40 per cent of seats for Karnataka students.

“They are free to form their own consortium but issues such as sharing their seats in the same pattern as other private colleges are yet to be resolved completely,” said Mr. Kumar.

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