HYDERABAD: In what has come as a disappointment to students seeking admission to engineering colleges, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused permission to the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) to conduct second phase of counselling for EAMCET-2014.
The APSCHE moved the court submitting that the first round of counselling closed on Aug 31, as per its direction and classes commenced on Sept 1. It sought permission to conduct the second phase in which usually, about 30,000 students change options. Now that the court has ordered that there should be no second phase, the students will have to be content with disciplines in BE and BTech courses they got in the first phase. The judgment also put a question mark on whether counselling could be held for management quota seats.
In the Supreme Court, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that 65,000 seats in various engineering colleges were left unfilled and urged the court to allow second phase counselling. A two-member Bench comprising Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya and Justice Prafulla Chandra Pant, while pointing out the delay in conducting the counselling as per schedule, observed that it would not be proper for the council to seek extension to complete the process.
It asked where was the guarantee that the council will not ask for further extension if the court obliged it this time.
If the judgment means there would be no counselling for management quota seats, the candidates who intend to secure admissions in this quota would forgo the opportunity. Counselling for category B seats is underway and will continue up to Oct 5. Besides, for the 174 colleges which had thought they would be part of the admission process in the second phase, the court’s decision is a shocker. In all, about 12,000 and 60,000 seats in Telangana and AP respectively found no takers in the first phase.
Telangana State Council of Higher Education Chairman T Papi Reddy said: “Considering the onerous task of completing the second phase and filling the management quota, the TS government had sought time till Oct 31. But AP filed an implead plea. We are witnessing its worst consequences.”