The seat matrix available for the first round of counselling for the Common Entrance Test (CET) rank holders, which was uploaded by Sunday morning, brought little cheer to seat aspirants. For, the number of seats in both medical and engineering in government colleges and under the government quota is fewer than last year. .
When the seat matrix was first announced by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) for the 2013–14 admissions, as many as 1,658 medical seats were available. More seats were added to the tally eventually, with 2,437 seats being available in the second round.
This year, 1,803 medical seats have been displayed in 31 colleges, out of which only 1,356 are for non-Hyderabad Karnataka quota candidates; 349 seats are under the Hyderabad Karnataka (HK) quota and 98 for special categories.
In engineering too, of the 50,748 seats displayed, 43,276 are under the non-HK quota (down from 46,650 last year), while 6,080 have been reserved for those applying under the HK quota. The newly introduced quota has brought down the number of seats available to the other students from 46,650 last year.
KEA officials said the intake in B.Sc. (farm science) courses had also gone down from 3,250 seats last year to 2,616 (overall) this year. The newest addition to the CET — B. Pharma and Pharma D. courses — have 1,259 seats.
