DD issue haunts dental seat aspirants too

The Comed-K postgraduate counselling for dental courses, too, witnessed unpleasant scenes here on Saturday as more than 40 students were barred from picking seats for bringing “faulty” demand drafts (DDs).

The Comed-K authorities, however, refused to budge, and accused the students of “deliberately” bringing “faulty” DDs. Much like what happened at the medical counselling on Friday, the Comed-K did not allow more than 40 students to attend the dental seat selection process, too.

Quite a few students had secured top ranks. One of the affected students was ranked fourth, another 19th, 42nd, etc. Most students were with ranks below 600, Deccan Herald has learnt.

While most of these students had brought DDs drawn from non-nationalised banks, a few others could not bring the original bank counterfoil sought by the Comed-K. Students ranked one to 150 were required to submit all the documents by 8 am. Those ranked between 151 and 600 had to do so by 9.30 am when the counselling commenced.

Saurabh Shekhar, ranked 484th, had all the necessary documents, including a DD drawn from a nationalised bank. He reported to the counselling centre on time. But the only thing he forgot to bring was the original bank counterfoil. The Comed-K authorities refused to let him in.

Saurabh called his brother, who lives in Electronics City, to bring the bank counterfoil. His brother did that, but he was late by an hour. But the Comed-K refused to entertain Saurabh’s fervent pleas.

An agitated Saurabh said that it was not the way to go. He said that he admitted his mistake, but the Comed-K should have handled the situation more maturely. “I had been waiting for this opportunity the whole year. My future depended on it. Now, I will have to prepare afresh,” he sulked, adding that he was unlikely to get a seat in the second round of counselling, scheduled for May 29.

Many students whose turn was yet to come went off on their own when they saw that the Comed-K was not going to allow them to pick the seats. The affected students were later supported by the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) who unsuccessfully tried to reason with the Comed-K Chief Executive, A S Srikanth. Police later arrived at the spot and asked the students, who sought to stage a protest, to leave.

Srikanth defended the decision, and said that he meant business. “Is it a sin in this country to enforce a rule strictly?” he retorted when asked by this newspaper if the Comed-K was too rigid. The affected students may approach the High Court on Monday, but Srikanth said that he was least bothered.

When asked why the Comed-K was seeking DDs drawn only from nationalised banks, Srikanth snapped: “When the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) can seek, as fees for examinations conducted by it, DDs drawn only from Syndicate Bank, can’t we demand DDs only from nationalised banks?”

The counselling

Only three PG dental degree seats were left at the end of the counselling. A total of 209 seats (including two PG diploma seats) were up for grabs when the process had begun. The remaining seats would be offered at the second round of counselling.

The first student to pick a seat was Noor Saira Wajid Najma Hajira, ranked second. She picked a MDS (Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics) seat at the Vokkaligara Sangha Dental College and Hospital, Bangalore. Shivangi Malviya, ranked fifth, picked the same seat at the SDM College of Dental Sciences, Dharwad.