The State government has knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court seeking extension of the deadline to fill seats in engineering colleges. This follows several colleges in the State being left with vacant seats last year as many students gave up their engineering seats after they obtained medical seats.
Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayaraddi said on Tuesday the State government had filed a petition seeking permission to extend the last date for engineering admissions which is currently July 31. The last date to complete the process in case of vacancies is August 15.
However, counselling dates for medical seats for those passing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is yet to be notified.
“If students choose medical seats over engineering seats after NEET counselling and there are vacancies arising out of this situation, then we should be allowed to extend the last date for admissions,” Mr. Rayaraddi said.
Those unsure of getting a medical seat get admitted in engineering colleges and give up these seats if they later obtain medical seats with their NEET scores. There is greater uncertainty this year as the Madras High Court has issued an interim order staying announcement of NEET results until June 7 after it received a petition stating that question papers in some regional languages were different from those in English and Hindi. The results are scheduled to be announced on June 8.
R. Lokesh, a parent of an engineering seat aspirant, said, “Ideally, the government should first conduct medical counselling and later engineering. This would ensure that students with top ranks obtain seats in the top colleges. Even if the State government is allowed to fill the seats after medical counselling, most of the students with good ranks would have already completed admissions and the vacant seats in good colleges will be open to students who have obtained lower ranks.”
