<p>Securing postgraduate medical (MD and MS) seats in the State this year has been a long, tough battle and students realised it once again, during the third round of counselling on Sunday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Originally scheduled for Saturday, the PG medical counselling was postponed by a day owing to delay in dental counselling. <br /><br />But as soon as it began on Sunday, aspirants were in for a shock at the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) office, the venue, when they found that several seats were missing from the matrix. <br /><br />Thereafter, the students and some parents raised slogans against KEA officials as well as the Medical Education Minister, Sharanprakash Patil.<br /><br /> According to students, the missing seats are from streams which are in demand. <br /><br />One of them said on the condition of anonymity: “There is no transparency in seat allotment. <br /><br />I am eyeing a seat in anaesthesia. I was not satisfied with the seat allotted to me in the second round, hence I surrendered it and chose to attend the third round of counselling. <br /><br />However, on Sunday I found out that the seat I had surrendered was not in the matrix at all! As per rules, the candidate next to me should be able to get it.” <br /><br />Students said they had counted at least 19 seats that were missing from the matrix but suspected that more seats had been omitted. <br /><br />“These seats are worth at least Rs one crore each. After a long-drawn-out argument with the officials, seven missing seats were added. We have no clue about the remaining seats,” said another candidate who attended the third round of counselling. <br /><br />Not just this, there are several other problems with the counselling, the students claimed.<br /><br /> In some cases, they said, the in-service and the non-in service seats had been mixed up. One non in-service candidate was allotted an in-service seat. <br /><br />In another bizarre case, one student was allotted two seats, they alleged. Some of them have now decided to take legal recourse. <br /><br />A total of 251 seats were up for grabs at the third round of medical counselling. <br /><br />The in-charge director of Medical Education, Dr S S Harsoor, said some seats could not be added to the matrix as they were stuck in litigations. <br /><br />“Students know this. There is no other lacuna,” he told Deccan Herald and rubbished complaints about mix up between in-service and non in-service seats. <br /><br />The government is likely to conduct a fourth round of counselling for the all India seats which are surrendered to the State. <br /><br />“Karnataka's share in the all India seats that remain unfilled will be surrendered. We will hold another round of counselling for these seats,” he said. <br /></p>
<p>Securing postgraduate medical (MD and MS) seats in the State this year has been a long, tough battle and students realised it once again, during the third round of counselling on Sunday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Originally scheduled for Saturday, the PG medical counselling was postponed by a day owing to delay in dental counselling. <br /><br />But as soon as it began on Sunday, aspirants were in for a shock at the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) office, the venue, when they found that several seats were missing from the matrix. <br /><br />Thereafter, the students and some parents raised slogans against KEA officials as well as the Medical Education Minister, Sharanprakash Patil.<br /><br /> According to students, the missing seats are from streams which are in demand. <br /><br />One of them said on the condition of anonymity: “There is no transparency in seat allotment. <br /><br />I am eyeing a seat in anaesthesia. I was not satisfied with the seat allotted to me in the second round, hence I surrendered it and chose to attend the third round of counselling. <br /><br />However, on Sunday I found out that the seat I had surrendered was not in the matrix at all! As per rules, the candidate next to me should be able to get it.” <br /><br />Students said they had counted at least 19 seats that were missing from the matrix but suspected that more seats had been omitted. <br /><br />“These seats are worth at least Rs one crore each. After a long-drawn-out argument with the officials, seven missing seats were added. We have no clue about the remaining seats,” said another candidate who attended the third round of counselling. <br /><br />Not just this, there are several other problems with the counselling, the students claimed.<br /><br /> In some cases, they said, the in-service and the non-in service seats had been mixed up. One non in-service candidate was allotted an in-service seat. <br /><br />In another bizarre case, one student was allotted two seats, they alleged. Some of them have now decided to take legal recourse. <br /><br />A total of 251 seats were up for grabs at the third round of medical counselling. <br /><br />The in-charge director of Medical Education, Dr S S Harsoor, said some seats could not be added to the matrix as they were stuck in litigations. <br /><br />“Students know this. There is no other lacuna,” he told Deccan Herald and rubbished complaints about mix up between in-service and non in-service seats. <br /><br />The government is likely to conduct a fourth round of counselling for the all India seats which are surrendered to the State. <br /><br />“Karnataka's share in the all India seats that remain unfilled will be surrendered. We will hold another round of counselling for these seats,” he said. <br /></p>
