The delay in publishing the engineering seat matrix for the extended casual vacancy round which will commence from September 15 has created confusion among students. Students are worried about the fate of government quota seats available in prestigious technical institutes of the city as colleges are trying hard to influence state government not to fill seats available in their colleges.
According to sources in the higher education department, the KEA has decided to hold extended casual vacancy rounds for medical and engineering seats from September 15. As part of this initiative, it published the seats available in the medical stream on its webpage on September 5 itself. As per the list, 29 students who had selected seats in private medical colleges have surrendered their seats and all these seats are available for selection at the time of extended rounds.
Students now allege that the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) is silent on engineering seats available for selection in the extended round. According to insiders in the higher education department, around 150 government quota seats are vacant in two prestigious colleges of the city and efforts are being made to convert them into the management quota.
According to Shrikant R.S., a seat aspirant, the KEA’s decision not to publish the list of vacant engineering seats has become a big headache for all students. “Seats selected in multiple institutes like NITK, Suratkal are available for selection in this round. But nobody knows when this list will be out. As these seats are important, students suspect foul play. Already, several students have lodged complaints against these institutes for charging additional fees for CET students,” he said.
Mutual transfer: The state medical education department’s decision to allow mutual transfer for students has also sent shock waves among students. Last year, the mutual transfer system was banned, following findings that it was used to block government quota seats in private colleges.