Karnataka Examinations Authority will conduct centralised counselling for post-graduate medical and dental courses for 2017-18 across all categories including those in government, private, minority and deemed university colleges.

Participating in a discussion on a Bill in the Assembly, Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil said KEA has developed a software for centralised counselling and it will be based on marks scored in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). Hitherto, counselling was conducted by multiple agencies. While KEA conducted counselling for government quota seats,Comed-K conducted the process for seats in non-minority professional colleges and Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Private Colleges Association (KRLMPCA) for seats in minority colleges.

Patil said the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutional (Regulation of Admission and Determination of fee) (Amendment) Bill, 2017 will pave way for centralised counselling.

The Bill provides for reserving 30% seats for Karnataka students in professional colleges, the minister said. The Bill was passed by voice vote.

Patil said he is in talks with deemed universities to provide 25% seats for students from the state at concessional fees.

The state government will also contemplate enacting a law with a provision that only students who have studied in Karnataka can apply for PG medical and dental colleges in the state from 2018-19. A similar initiative was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2014, he added.

Bill to curb leak

A Bill that proposes to declare question paper leak a serious criminal offence with a penal clause of  three years’ imprisonment (for the first offence) was also passed by the Assembly. The Council had passed the Bill with some amendments last week. The Bill also defines question paper, leakage of question paper and malpractice so that there is no ambiguity while prosecuting those indulging in paper leaks.The provisions of the Bill will be applicable to examinations conducted by Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) and Pre-University Department.