THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The discussions between the government and representatives of private self-financing engineering college managements in the state continued late on Tuesday with the latter insisting on their demand that that they should be allowed to fill the vacant management quota seats with candidates who had appeared for the entrance examination, irrespective of whether they figured in the rank list or not.
According to sources, the contentious issue of whether to allow admission for students who have not even scored a minimum of 10 marks in the entrance examination, remained unresolved.
“Over 35,000 students were kept out of the rank list as they have not scored a minimum of 10 marks in the entrance examination.”
“Our demand is to allow these students to be admitted, taking into account thousands of seats that will remain unfilled,” said K Sasikumar, president of Kerala Self Financing Engineering College Management Association (KSFECMA).
According to Sasikumar, the fee structure which was agreed upon last year will continue.
As per the agreement, managements can charge annual fees of up to Rs 99,000 for seats in the management quota and Rs 1.5 lakh per annum for NRI seats along with a deposit of Rs 1.5 lakh.
Regarding the eligibility criteria, a candidate who has scored an aggregate of 45 per cent marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in the Class XII examination will be allowed admission in the management quota.
However, the insistence on a minimum of 50 per cent marks for Mathematics would continue for seats in the merit quota, sources said.
The draft agreement would be further fine-tuned after resolving the contentious issues and a final agreement would be out only by Wednesday, said a top interlocutor .
