Bengaluru: The deadline for completion of the first round of Karnataka Common Entrance Test (CET) counselling for engineering seats in the state could not be met and the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) officials have blamed it on lack of timely availability of seat matrix of all engineering colleges.
However, they point out that if NEET counselling for undergraduate medical and dental seats in the state gets over ahead of engineering, this would prevent blocking of engineering seats by medical aspirants.
KEA Executive Director K. Vinothpriya told Deccan Chronicle said the authority was hopeful of completing the first round of engineering counselling for CET seats by the end of June. “However, as the seat matrix for all engineering colleges were not made available to us from the higher education department, we were not able to publish it on our portal enabling candidates to further the option entry process,” she said.
She further added that holding the counselling towards undergraduate medical and dental seats before engineering is in the pipeline at the moment, as it is expected to benefit candidates. “This would avoid aspiring medical candidates from unnecessarily blocking engineering seats. However, this proposal which has been on the plans of KEA since last few years, would be a reality only if the medical education department hands over the complete seat matrix on time,” she said.
However, aspiring engineering candidates shared their worries of the delayed process as the options available to mark their preferences are still limited as the seat matrix of more than 200 colleges is yet to be published on the KEA portal. At the moment, only 12,586 seats are made available from 36 colleges, according to the matrix published on June 28.
Vineeth S., an aspiring computer engineer, said the delay has added to the candidates’ mental stress. “While we have been waiting for more than a month since the KCET results were published, anxiety levels have gone up with the delay. However, it would be great if medical counselling is done prior to engineering as not many would wait for both, giving us better options in the first two rounds of allotment itself,” he said.
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