It is now certain that the counselling for post-graduate medical seats by the Consortium of Medical Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) will be held as per schedule on April 21, 22 and 23. The case pending before the Supreme Court regarding the state government’s seat selection process was not listed for hearing on Thursday. With a string of holidays till April 20, the government has no hopes of conducting the counselling before COMED-K. Speaking to Express, Dr S S Harsoor, Director (incharge), Medial Education Department, said, “We are in constant touch with the legal adviser in Delhi. The case has not been listed for Thursday and after that, the court will reopen on Monday.” However, according to department officials and COMED-K authorities, candidates appearing for COMED-K counselling will have an open option to surrender the seat, though they will lose some money. A S Srikanth, Chief Executive Officer of COMED-K said, “Candidates have an option to surrender the seat in case they get seats in any other counselling across the nation. If that happens, COMED-K will deduct around `5,000 towards processing fee and refund the rest.” Department officials said candidates not sure of getting government seats can take a chance with COMEDK and try their luck with government counselling later. “Our hands are tied in this issue. We cannot proceed further till the case is cleared in the Supreme Court,” Harsoor said.
TRANSPARENCY IN SEAT SELECTION
COMED-K authorities have assured that transparency will be maintained in seat selection process. It is mandatory for candidates to present photo ID (submitted during examination) during counselling. There will also be bio-metric attendance for candidates participating in the counselling process.