Panel asks ComedK to change its rule for extended round

The Chairman of the Admission Overseeing Committee has issued an order to the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (ComedK), instructing it to allow candidates who accepted allotted seats in the second round to take part in the second extended round.

ComedK had agreed to conduct a second extended round after a previous order from the committee. However, their condition was that only those candidates who had not been allotted any seats in the previous rounds would be allowed to take part in the new round.

When they saw the notification on the ComedK website on Friday, parents of candidates who had already accepted seats were upset.

“In the second round, we were given only two options — to accept or reject the allotted seat. At that time, it was the final round so we accepted it. Now, they have introduced a new round but only those who rejected their seats and those who cleared the supplementary PU exams are allowed. This is unfair to meritorious students who could get better courses and colleges,” one parent said.

Many parents have already paid the fee and have taken admission in the allotted colleges. But they want a chance to take part in the extended round as they believe they would get a better college. “My daughter had been allotted the Computer Science course in RV College as one of her options but she did not get it. In the matrix of seats available for the extended round, there are 15 seats for this course in the college. If we are not allowed to participate, students with lower ranks will get these seats. What is the value of a student’s rank then?” another parent asked.

Addressing the parents, chairman of the committee, retired Justice Anand Byrareddy said that when they ordered the extended round, they had not anticipated this issue. “There is reason in the request the parents are making. I have issued an order and it is up to the ComedK to facilitate this. If the order is not followed, parents have the option to go to court,” Justice Byrareddy told DH. He added that since admissions were completed and it was just a matter of a few adjustments, it would not be in contravention of the Supreme Court order that the process should be completed by July 31.

An official of ComedK said that they were consulting their technical partners about the feasibility of opening the new round to those who have already accepted seats. Meanwhile, an update on their website says that the process has been suspended for now. A new notification about the process would be uploaded by 6 pm on Sunday.

First round seats announced

The allotment of seats in the first round of the medical and dental counselling was published on Saturday on the website of the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA).
Of the total 3,594 MBBS seats which were identified for allotment in the first round, 3,510 seats were allotted.

In the persons with disabilities quota, 84 seats remain vacant, officials of the KEA said. Of the 913 dental seats in the first round, 887 seats have been allotted and 26 persons with disabilities quota seats have remained vacant.

Allotment has been done based on the merit in NEET. Candidates have been advised to understand the “choices” before exercising them.