Bengaluru: Here is a good news for meritorious students who have missed the MBBS seats in the ongoing Common Entrance Test (CET) counseling by a whisker. The state medical education department is working towards adding 466 extra seats to the medical seat matrix. This means that the total number of MBBS seats under the government/government quota category will reach 2,995!
Sources in the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) which is holding the CET counseling, say that so far 2,489 MBBS seats were allotted in government medical colleges and in government quota medical seats in the private colleges. “KEA has completed Round I, Round II and Extended Round II CET counseling till now. These additional seats are expected to be added to Round III and Round IV of CET counseling which will be conducted in the month of August,” said a source.
“In the academic year 2014-15, 2,995 MBBS seats were allotted to the CET students. This year, till now only 2,489 MBBS seats were allotted. The reason for the less number of seats is the non-recognition of a few premier medical colleges of Bengaluru city by the Medical Council of India (MCI). But now these colleges are working towards fulfilling all the statutory requirements prescribed by the MCI and are expected to get the permission to admit students any time. From these colleges KEA will get these additional seats. Few seats expected to be come from the All-India Quota (AIQ) also. The state government is trying to get permission for its new colleges,” he said.
Poor demand for engineering seats: Meanwhile the majority of the engineering colleges in the state continue to face student scarcity. According to officials, even after the first two rounds of seat allotments, 21,282 engineering seats were left unfilled under the government category.
In COMEDK, 9,390 seats were left unfilled after the first round of counseling. “Around 30,000 engineering seats are expected to go unfilled by the end of the admission process. This is a huge number. Many private engineering colleges are offering seats with a discounted fee through the COMEDK All-India merit quota. Still students are not ready to oblige.” said an officer from the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE).
