CET UPSET: Approvals still pending, counseling dates may fall into disarray
It seems, you may now have to wait for more than 10 days
to pick your engineering seats in Karnataka.
Postponing the launch of the Common Entrance Test (CET) counseling for engineering
courses to July 7. It was earlier scheduled to begin on June 27 state higher education
minister VS Acharya assured that the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
would accord sanctions to all engineering colleges in the state by Tuesday 28th
June.
Acharya said on Thursday 23rd June: "The counseling and seat selection process for
admission to engineering courses will begin from July 7 in the state. AICTE has
promised that it will release the seat matrix by June 28 (Tuesday)." But that has
failed to happen. Only 140 of the 189 engineering colleges in the state had received
AICTE sanctions as of last week. AICTE was expected to approve these 40 engineering
colleges on Tuesday 28th June.
Meanwhile, the Medical Council of India (MCI) approval for 700 odd medical seats
are still pending, though the first round of counseling for admission to under-graduate
medical and dental courses for the year 2011-12 ended on Friday 24th June.
State Medical Education Minister S. A. Ramdas flew to New Delhi on Tuesday to hold
talk with MCI officials on the issue.
Ramdas had visited Delhi before the first round of medical counseling started and
met MCI officials, requesting speedy completion of the process.
"MCI is doing it on priority-basis for Karnataka, but I don't know why the approval
process is getting delayed. I will meet MCI officials on Wednesday 29th June and
discuss the issue with them," Ramdas said. After fetching the MCI approval for the
700 medical seats, the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) is planning to conduct
a special round of counseling for those seats.
It may be recalled that, last year too, the government had to postpone the CET engineering
counseling twice for the same reason. But Acharya had assured that: "There may not
be any more changes and the counseling will happen as per this schedule." To ensure
that, the minister insisted that the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) staff
work even on Saturdays and Sundays.
Acharya had also made a trip to Delhi to discuss the issue with AICTE officials.
But if the AICTE delays the approval of the engineering colleges further, the state
government would be forced to alter the counseling schedule once again throwing
the entire process into disarray. Moreover, AICTE approval for Ayurveda, Unani and
Homeopathy courses are too pending. Counseling for these courses had been postponed
and the dates are yet to be fixed.
Courtesy: DNA India
