BENGALURU: Undergraduate medical seats that were offered under the extended mop-up round of seat allotment by Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) on Thursday were lapped up in just two-and-half hours. There were just 20 seats available for allotment that were ‘cancelled seats’ and offered under extended mop-up round, but there were more than 3,000 aspirants for those seats.
The KEA had issued a notification on its website with details of the ‘cancelled seats’ on Wednesday evening and the seat allotment schedule for Thursday. Following this, candidates from across the state turned up.
Several candidates and parents gathered near the KEA premises well before 6am thinking that the seats will be allotted on a first-come-first-serve basis. However, the seats were allotted as per NEET rankings and based on eligibility. A senior official of the Medical Education Department said, “As these seats were surrendered by candidates and available at government colleges, seats under government quota and management quota at private colleges, we started the counselling from rank 1.”
Candidates who had surrendered their seats or cancelled were not allowed to take part in Thursday’s extended mop-up round. “As it was offline seat allotment, all the aspirants had to be present at the Bengaluru centre, leading to a crowd gathering at the KEA premises,” said the official.
Of the 20 seats, five were in government medical colleges with a fee structure of `16,700 and the remaining 15 were in private medical colleges under management quota for `6,33,000.
“My NEET ranking was 4 lakh-plus, and I did not get a seat in earlier rounds. So I tried my luck here in the extended mop-up round. But the seats were allotted from the top rank,” said Arshad Khan from Mangaluru. Another candidate, Sunidhi from Davanagere, said, “As I preferred a seat in 3B category, I could not get it. There were few seats and many aspirants. My NEET ranking was not great.”
‘Lack of transparency’
The offline seat allotment which started around 10.30am was completed by 1pm. Several students who did not get a seat alleged that there was lack of transparency in the allotment process. “I attended the allotment on August 26 and I got a seat that day. But authorities refused admission as I was unable to present the DD. Today, I got the DD, but could not get a seat. I don’t think the process is transparent,” said a candidate from Tumakuru.
“I got an engineering seat, but as I want to pursue medicine, I took part in the counselling on August 26. I got a seat, but the officials did not agree to allot the seat as I did not produce a DD. That is unfair,” said a candidate from Basavanabagewadi.