AICTE delays engineering seat nod, KEA in a fix

The reason: In its draft matrix, the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) had included 6,358 seats, none of which has received technical approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). 

Also in limbo are six government engineering colleges and a large number of seats in some reputed engineering institutions. KEA is clueless since the matrix is required to go ahead with the counselling process which starts with the special categories on June 4.

Currently, KEA has over 32,000 engineering seats to allot. But it cannot move forward without an AICTE green signal. “We are scrambling for the entire process and frantically trying to contact the officials concerned to get this thing cleared as early as possible,” a KEA official told Deccan Herald.

Officials said the approval was pending due to technical reasons. “The approvals are lagging on account of technical issues,” said the official. The KEA is working in tandem with COMED-K officials in ensuring that the State does not lose out on the seats this year.

According to the AICTE website, most colleges are yet to submit their compliance reports.
For the KEA, this problem is a first. As many as 63,000 students have been given rankings under the CET, including 4,000 aspirants who were newly incorporated in the list after the results were declared for the CBSE, ICSE and Andhra Pradesh students recently. 

The website lists the following colleges which await the technical committee approval: Government Engineering Colleges in Bellary, Raichur, Hassan, Ramanagaram, Mandya and Chamrajanagar (240 seats each); MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology (1,224); PES Institute of Technology (930); East West Institute of Technology (654); Impact College of Engineering and Health Sciences (240); Sambharam Institute of Technology (480); NIE Institute of Technology (240); Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology, Mysore; Beary’s Institute of Technology, Mangalore (240); and  SJM Institute of Technology, Chitradurga (430). 

When contacted by Deccan Herald, MSRIT principal Dr Rajnikanth said: “We are yet to receive any word from the AICTE on whether the matter is purely a delay in uploading the website or something serious.” 

Medical seat matrix notified

CET candidates will have 1,120 MBBS seats to choose from under the government quota, out of the 2,815 seats in the private and government medical colleges across the Karnataka, reports DHNS from Bangalore.