Overcoming several technical hurdles, about 1.5 lakh candidates have registered for admission into degree colleges through Degree Online Service of Telangana (DOST), a centralised admission procedure started last year.
After initial hiccups where the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students faced problems in registration due to non-availability of data, the process was put in place by the officials. Though June 7 was the last day, students can still register till June 9 with late fee payment of ₹ 100.
However, the admission process will not be completed till June 15 when the court is likely to give its final verdict on the admissions as some colleges moved the court questioning DOST and preferring to remain outside it. The colleges contend that they want to stay out of DOST as they don’t want to enjoy the fee reimbursement scheme of the government.
“Though students can give their options and seat allotment would be done as per the schedule, the allotment details would not be made public till the final judgement of the court,” said Prof. Venkatachalam, Convenor, DOST and Vice-Chairman of TSCHE. He said colleges that were permitted to make their own admissions should not reveal the allotments to students.
Meanwhile, colleges that preferred to stay away from DOST and made their own admissions have asked the students to also register on DOST and give their respective colleges as the first choice to ensure that their seats are confirmed in case the court verdict comes in government’s favour. “The college I chose for my daughter has promised to repay the differential amount in case the court favours the government fixed fee,” a parent revealed.
This time, Aadhaar details are being matched with the biometric details of all the candidates to ensure that there are no fake admissions to benefit from the fee reimbursement scheme.
Officials said there are around four lakh seats in degree courses in the State. Though only 1.5 lakh students have registered so far, officials say, about 1.5 lakh students writing their Intermediate supplementary exams will also apply apart from those deviating from engineering courses once the engineering admissions are over. “There will be second and third phase of DOST admissions,” Prof. Venkatachalam said.
