Comed-K counselling put off

On Tuesday, allegations were levelled that quite a few students who got seats through the All India Post Graduate Medical/Dental Entrance Examination (AIPGMEE) at lower fees were attempting to ‘grab’ seats through the entrance test conducted by Comed-K.

Comed-K executive secretary Dr S Kumar said: “Like every year, there is a lot of anxiety among parents and students about seat grabbing by candidates who have already taken a seat in the All India entrance exam. We tried to pacify them saying that the students have to issue a surrender letter, if they are forfeiting the seat. Despite this, the protesters did not let the counselling continue”. 

One candidate, on condition of anonymity, said colleges were paying students to take up seats in the colleges during counselling, and then surrender them after the conclusion of counselling. Comed-K officials had offered a committee of students and parents to observe the proceedings, but that did not pacify them. Kumar said considering that the protesters were not pacified, the counselling was postponed.

A meeting of the private medical and dental colleges association will be held on Wednesday to decide on changes to the counselling process. Comed-K will also collect details of miscellaneous fees from colleges and put them up on its website.

“There are some errors in the seat matrix received from the colleges. We will try and get them rectified too,” added Kumar.