Admission panel moves court for another round of counselling for engineering seats

Many vacant seats in private engineering colleges after students opt for JEE

The Admission Overseeing Committee (AOC) for professional educational institutions moved the Karnataka High Court on Thursday seeking a direction to the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges’ Association (KUPECA) to hold an extended round of counselling to fill up vacant seats based on merit, before transferring such seats to the management quota.

The AOC, represented by its chairman Anand Byrareddy, a retired judge of the High Court, stated in the petition that it had received complaints from students and parents about clash of dates in scheduling of counselling by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), which allots seats under government quota, and the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges in Karnataka (COMEDK).

After noticing a larger number of vacant seats in private engineering colleges due to surrender of seats by students who opted for JEE and quotas, the AOC had asked the KUPECA and the COMEDK to hold another round of counselling for aspirants. However, both the organisations expressed their “inability” to hold counselling, citing the apex court’s order to complete admissions by July 30.

Following this, the AOC issued a direction to the KUPECA to hold extended counselling to fill up the vacant seats before transferring the seats to management quota. It said the apex court’s order allows any number of counselling sessions depending upon local requirements, till July 30, and allowing admission of students to vacant seats till August 15. As both the KUPECA and the COMEDK did not heed to the order, the AOC has now moved court seeking direction on this. The petition will come up for hearing on Friday.

OCI students’ admission

The High Court on Thursday disposed of a contempt of court petition against the Principal Secretary of Medical Education Department after the government issued a notification making provision for admission to students belonging to OCI to medical and dental courses for institutional seats apart from NRI quota.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Jayant M. Patel and Justice S. Sujatha disposed of the petition filed by OCI students, who had complained that the State had violated the court’s July 7 direction in denying them admission under for institutional seats.