High drama prevailed on the Whitefield campus of the Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences on Saturday when the management refused to admit 25 students who had secured seats under government quota from the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA).
Though the Common Entrance Test (CET) rank holders were carrying copies of the Admission Order they had downloaded from the KEA website, the college told them it had not received any communication about these seats from the KEA.
When the parents asked the college management to verify the authenticity of the Admission Order by visiting the KEA website, a senior official allegedly told them that the website could be fake, a parent said requesting anonymity. The college authorities allegedly did not respond to even basic questions from the parents.
Angered by the recalcitrant management, parents and students pitched camp and refused to leave without a resolution to the issue.
Salim Sharif, a parent, said that the panic was aggravated by the fact that July 29 (Monday) is the last day for reporting to the colleges. “If for some reason the admission formalities are not completed by Monday, the seats will be forfeited and the college can then give them away under the management quota,” he said.
No problems here
However, those allotted seats in other colleges such as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Medical College at K.G. Halli had absolutely no problems. According to Zainab Uzma (46), the parent of aspirant Tabia Tamim (19), the entire process was completed in just a few hours. “We submitted the Admission Order that we downloaded from the KEA website along with original marks cards and other identification and they happily accepted these documents,” she said.
“If they (Ambedkar College) had no problem, I don’t understand what was wrong with the Vydehi management,” said Mr. Sharif who is an acquaintance of Ms. Uzma. The principal of the Vydehi Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences refused to comment on the issue.
The admission process has been a traumatic experience for students this year. The seat matrix that was supposed to be published on July 23 was uploaded onto the website only after 3 p.m. on July 25 that too without the Admission Order.
That left the parents with only three days until July 29 (with a Sunday in between) to pay the fee.
Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil told The Hindu he had received no complaints against the Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre.
Another curious development has been causing much heartburn for seat aspirants. When students logged into the KEA website on Thursday, they were allotted one college whereas when they repeated the exercise on Friday, they found that they had been allotted another.
At odds
H. Nagaraju (45) from Tumkur, who came to the KEA office in the city on Saturday along with his daughter N. Dakshayini (18), was all at sea. Ms. Dakshayini was allotted a Dairy Technology seat in a college at Gulbarga when they checked on July 25. But when they checked again the next day, they found that the college and combination had changed. She has now been allotted the Food Technology seat at a college in Dharwad.
“I liked my first course. I don’t understand how they can change the allotment like this,” the student said.
