It is a race against time for Karnataka to comply with the April 5 deadline set by the Supreme Court to complete admissions to the State-quota for postgraduate medical seats.
But, with the decision still pending on the implementation of the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2006, no seat matrix is available.
The result is that the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) is yet to announce schedule for counselling, even though the deadline to complete the first round is only six days away. Medical Education officials said Monday would be crucial as a decision will have to be taken about when and how to take the process ahead. So far, the KEA has completed the document verification of seat aspirants.
As many as 2,348 eligible candidates got their documents verified (2,197 medical and 141 dental).
Even on Monday, the KEA will give candidates an opportunity to get their documents verified if they have missed doing so earlier after intervention by the Karnataka High Court.
“In fact, many such court interventions came because of which the process was pushed further. But, without clarity on the Act, nothing can still be done,” the officials admitted.
However, officials are confident that the counselling process can be completed within the stipulated time provided the seat matrix is given to them. “As counselling is online, if they give us the seat matrix by Monday we can give students three days to enter options and conduct seat allotment the next day. This way, we will be able to meet the deadline,” a KEA official said.