Interesting Announcements Archives

Interesting Announcements / News Articles : Our Archives.

Date: 18-01-2007

Private colleges to conduct separate entrance test.

Professional college seat aspirants may have to take separate entrance tests for government and management quota seats this year too.

Hours after the Government announced the date for its Common Entrance Test (CET), private college managements announced that they would conduct a separate entrance test. The test, that will be conducted by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K), is likely to be held in May. But the exact dates will be announced later, according to COMED-K officials.

The managements have rejected the single-day CET as a "unilateral decision" of the State Government. For the colleges, the announcement was a bitter pill after the Government went ahead with its order on the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA). Their main grouse was that the KEA lacked autonomy, and was not an independent agency. A single test could have avoided the need for a separate selection process.

Date: 18-01-2007

CET-2007 proposed to be on 9th May, 2007.

The CET-2007 has been proposed to be held on May 9, 2007. The Notification of the entrance test is expected to be out on January 28.

One of the notable differences this year seems to be a combined physics and chemistry test, and all the primary exams scheduled on one day. Also the CET Cell has decided to make left hand thumb impression on application forms as well as OMR sheets compulsory for candidates taking the CET to avoid impersonation.

Visit CET-2007 HomePage for more details.

Date: 15-12-2006

Quota for non-Karnataka students re-introduced

The Karnataka government has decided to re-introduce 10% quota for non-Karnataka students in engineering, medical and dental courses from next year. However, unlike previous years, the students will be exempted from taking the Common Entrance Test (CET) to be conducted by the proposed Karnataka Examination Authority (now called the CET Cell).

Instead, they will be admitted on the basis of their scores in the all-India entrance exams like the All-India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE) and All-India Pre-Medical/Dental Exam (AIPMT).

"Non-state students need not come all the way to Bangalore for the test. They just have to register with the exam authority by paying a fee and furnishing their AIEEE or AIPMT scores. The intention is to reduce the number of entrance exams,"higher education principal secretary Kaushik Mukherjee said.

The CET Cell scrapped the 10% quota in 2004 as it was eating into the government quota seats. As per the new provisions, non-state students will be eligible only for higher fee seats in both government and private institutes. The last 2 years, non-Karnataka students were eligible for admission only through Comed-K exam.

Date: 28-11-2006

CET to streamline admissison process from 2007

The Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell is all set to streamline the admission process in 2007 by cutting down on the counselling time.

The Karnataka government plans to do this by making 2 changes.

by not adding any seats to the seat matrix after May 31 next year. Simply put, seat matrix will not be amended during counselling. For instance, even if a college gets approval from the AICTE, no seat will be filled through the CET Cell once the seat-selection process commences.
by disallowing candidates who have selected seats under higher fee or concessional fee from picking seats in the same category during casual vacancy round. Which simply means that a candidate who selected seat under the higher fee category will not be allowed to pick a seat under the same category in the next round.

Last year, CET was held between May 9 and 12 and the casual vacancy round counselling ended on September 30. This year the government plans to start counselling by June 1 2007 and all counselling to be completed by August 1, 2007.

CET Cell is also set to get a new name - Karnataka Examination Authority.

Date: 03-11-2006

CET Cell to conduct tests for software companies now?

If the Karanataka Government has its way, the CET Cell would be soon conducting entrance tests for not only the entrace into engineering/medical/dental colleges but also for private agencies, software companies and banks.

The government thinks that the expertise of the CET Cell, could be used to help private firms, educational institutions and other agencies to recruit the right talent. Also there is a proposal to use the infrastructure and technological expertise of the CET Cell for evaluating answer papers of all the universities in Karnataka.

The government's idea of utilizing the CET Cell for other purposes may not be a bad idea, but it should first sort out the issue of entrance examinations into professional colleges, the original purpose the CET Cell was setup. If the government is able to combine the CET and the COMED examinations to one, it would save a lot of hassle and confusion for both students and parents.

Date: 27-10-2006

Karnataka proposes common CET from next year.

The Karnataka Government is considering to conduct a common examination for the Government, aided and private colleges next year with a view to save students from the hardship of facing two entrance tests for seeking admission to professional courses.

The Government would hold parleys early next month with private college managements, which conduct a separate Common Entrance Test (CET) under its banner Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K).

The students have to attend the CET conducted by the State for admission to the Government and aided colleges and also that of the COMED-K, which has more professional colleges under its umbrella.

The Government intends to decentralise CET examination by holding it at divisional and district headquarters, Murthy said, adding the existing period of three months involved in conducting the test will be reduced to 45 days.

At least 8,000 engineering seats have remained vacant this year.

Date: 01-09-2006

Casual vacancy round for engineering seats.

The engineering casual vacancy round seat selection for the wards of migrants from Jammu and Kashmir ended on Wednesday.

The engineering casual vacancy round for the candidates belonging to various reserved and special categories will be held from Thursday (August 31) to September 9.

A press release from the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell said that as per the modified schedule that was notified on August 21 by the Cell, candidates belonging to Category 1, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, rural, Kannada medium including General Merit Rural (GMR) and General Merit Karnataka (GMK) categories and those belonging to special categories such as Defence, Ex-Defence, Scouts and Guides, Anglo-Indian, National Cadet Corps (NCC) and sports may attend the casual vacancy round seat selection process to be held from Thursday. The seats pertaining to general merit category will be offered only in the general casual vacancy round process scheduled to be held from September 12 to 30.

On Thursday, the casual vacancy round seat selection would be held for eligible engineering rank holders from 1 to 7,000.

Date: 09-08-2006

CET Cell to be replaced by Karnataka Entrance Examination Authority (KEEA).

The Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell, the most-thronged address for candidates seeking admission to professional colleges in the state, will be disbanded from next year.

In its place, Karnataka Entrance Examination Authority (KEEA) will be set up. Unlike the CET Cell, the proposed Authority will conduct entrance exams for all courses polytechnic, MBA/MCA, nursing, and other postgraduate medical/dental courses conducted by RGUHS.

Even other universities, agencies and government departments can outsource the entrance exams and seat-selection process to the Authority.

The existing CET Cell conducts seat-selection process only for undergraduate medical/dental/engineering courses and lateral entry scheme for diploma holders.

Date: 02-08-2006

Karnataka to provide fee subsidy.

The Karnataka cabinet today decided to provide subsidy in fee for students who had obtained seats in professional colleges through Common Entrance Test Cell for this year, reversing its earlier decision.

The cabinet decided to provide a subsidy of Rs 90,000 for medical students, Rs 80,000 for dental students and Rs 25,000 for engineering students admitted to higher fee category, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj Horatti told reporters here.

The decision would cost Rs 24 crore on the state exchequer, he said but added it would be applicable for this year's batch till they complete the course.

He said 300 medical seats, 220 dental seats and 8008 engineering seats would be covered under the subsidy.

Date: 16-07-2006

Fees might be slashed.

The Karnataka government is considering reducing the fees in payment category for medical, dental and engineering courses from this academic year.

The government proposed to reduce the engineering fees from Rs 85,000 to Rs 60,000 or Rs 65,000. The proposed fee reduction for seats in government and aided engineering colleges is from Rs 15,000 to Rs 8,650. Similarly, the fees for MBBS courses will be reduced from Rs 2.9 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, while dental fees will be cut from Rs 2.3 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh.

A decision on fee cut will be taken by the cabinet sub-committee on CET, which will meet on Monday and place its proposal before the finance department. With the seat-selection process by the CET cell under way, the government proposes to continue collecting the old fees and refund it to students at the end of the counselling session.

Date: 29-05-2006

COMED-K test held in 113 centres.

The Under-Graduate Entrance Test (UGET-2006) conducted by the Consortium of Medical Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) was held on Sunday in 70 centres in Bangalore and in 43 centres in 13 other cities in Karnataka.

Admission tickets were issued to 69,179 candidates and 15,310 appeared for test in physics/chemistry/biology combination, 39,223 for physics/chemistry/mathematics and 14,646 for PCMB. There were 29,956 aspirants for MBBS/BDS seats and 53,869 for engineering courses.

In Bangalore, 87 per cent attendance was reported for the morning session wherein students wrote the combined physics and chemistry paper, while 87 per cent students attended the biology session and 90 per cent wrote the mathematics test. The attendance in other cities was around 85 per cent.

Date: 28-05-2006

Fees fixed for unaided private medical and dental colleges.

The Fee Fixation Committee, headed by former High Court judge Rangavittalachar, has fixed the fees for the academic year 2006-07 for unaided private medical and dental colleges in the State.

The committee, sources said, had fixed the fees for 24 medical colleges and 39 dental colleges. It had also fixed the fees for postgraduate courses in medicine (14 colleges) and dentistry (18 colleges) for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07. The fee structure has been published and gazetted and it has been displayed on the premises of the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell at Malleswaram in Bangalore. A copy of the notification fixing the fee structure has been sent to all private unaided professional colleges. The fees will shortly be put on the website of the CET also.

The sources said it was mandatory for the colleges to charge only the fee that had been fixed by the committee. Under no circumstances could any college charge higher fees. The fee would remain the same for students admitted either through the CET conducted by the CET Cell or the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka.

Medical
Highest fee: (Rs. 1.88 lakh) M.S. Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore
Lowest fee: (Rs. 1.13 lakh) Nijalingappa Medical College, Bagalkot, Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore, and Navodaya Medical College, Raichur

Dental
Highest fee: (Rs. 1.35 lakh) KLS's Institute of Dental Sciences, Bangalore
Lowest fee: (Rs. 55,000) HKE's Nijalingapa Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Gulbarga, and Sri Hasanamba Dental College, Hassan

Date: 12-05-2006

Not many take architecture aptitude test.

Less than 10,000 students in Karnataka and around 5,000 students in Bangalore were part of the aptitude test for architecture course on Friday.

In the last of the CET series this year, the test was held from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. (Part I) and from 2.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. (Part II). In most centres in Bangalore, girls outnumbered boys. While 5,612 attended Part I, 5,398 attended Part II of the test in Bangalore centres.

According to CET administrative officer Syed Jamal, out of the 88,000 students who appeared for the engineering test, 30,000 had shown interest in the aptitude test. Of this less than 10,000 appeared, vying for the 30 architecture seats in the state.

The rank list for architecture course will be published only in respect of candidates who secure 50 per cent of marks taken together in all subjects in the qualifying examination and 40 per cent of marks taken together in both part I & II of the aptitude test. There will be no negative evaluation in respect of wrong and multiple answers in the aptitude test.

Date: 11-05-2006

Outside Kannadigas write CET.

A total of 918 candidates took the Kannada language test conducted as part of the CET at the CET Cell in Malleswaram on Thursday. These candidates, with Kannada, Tulu, or Kodava as their mother tongue, appeared for the test to secure seats in professional colleges under the Horanadu and Gadinadu Kannadiga clauses.

The test was to ascertain the ability of the candidates to speak, read, and write Kannada. The candidates produced the relevant documents of their parents in support of their claim, marks cards, and study certificates. The CET will conclude with an aptitude test for architecture seat aspirants on Friday.

Date: 10-05-2006

ABVP stages protest over CET issue.

The ABVP activists urged the State government to introduce an education policy in the interest of the State even if it means going against the Supreme Court verdict on CET.The ABVP held a protest on Wednesday demanding the reintroduction of government-run CET as the only criteria for admission to professional courses.

The ABVP has demanded the cancellation of entrance examinations of Comed-K and educational institutions run by minorities. These examinations are turning into platforms by the Comed-K colleges and education institutions run by minorities for bargaining donation and capitation fees, the student organisation leader N Ravi Kumar alleged.

The ABVP activists also urged the State government to introduce an education policy in the interest of the State even if it means going against the Supreme Court verdict on CET. “Of the 88,765 students appearing for CET, only 10,000 students have appeared for Comed-K entrance test. This clearly indicates that the other CET is not trusted by a majority of the students and parents,” added Ravi Kumar.

Moreover, several Comed-K colleges, last year, had allegedly admitted 804 more students who had never appeared for any entrance examinations.There were also reports of rankings being rigged to the tune of 100 seats by some colleges, which is alarming as meritorious students are affected, said activist Devaraj.
Source: Deccan Herald

Date: 10-05-2006

Students appear for CET 2006.

98 per cent of the candidates who had applied for CET appeared for the examination through out the state today as compared to an overall 80 per cent on Tuesday, as CET Karnataka 2006 concluded today.

Unlike in previous years, the conclusion of the CET is no relief to students. They will now have to prepare themselves to face the Comed-k entrance test. CET Cell will publish the key answers on May 22. Candidates and their parents can file objections, addressed to the Special Officer, CET Cell, Bangalore on or before May 26 either in person or through ‘speed post’ only with regard to any of the published key answers, along with all supporting documents and justification. The objections received will be placed before an expert committee, for determination of the right key answers.

The results are expected to be announced on June 3 and the seat selection process has been scheduled from June 14.

Date: 27-04-2006

COMED-K UGET on May 28, 2006. Forms available from 28-04-2006(Friday).

COMED-K Undergraduate Entrance Test (UGET) 2006 will be held on May 28, 2006.
Applications will be available online and at member colleges.
Online applications will be issued from April 28 till May 15.
Last Date for Receipt of Completed Online Application Forms is May 18.
Applications for PCM or PCB will cost Rs.600, and for all 4 subjects (PCMB) will be Rs.800
The final merit list will be published on May 14, 2006
For complete details on COMED-K UGET 2006, go to COMEDK 2006 Home Page

Date: 25-04-2006

COMED-K UGET Notification expected to be out soon. Exam dates might change..

The Undergraduate Entrance Test (UGET) of COMED-K is likely to be conducted across 12 cities in the State in the last week of May. The consortium had earlier proposed to hold the test on May 20 and 21. To beat the delay, Comed-K is planning online application for the UGET this year.

A formal notification is likely to be released soon.

This year, with the Supreme Court ruling that private college admissions would be entirely based on the entrance test conducted by the managements, the consortium was expected to receive 50,000 to 60,000 applications. Last year, about 24,000 candidates appeared for the UGET.

Date: 25-04-2006

Two colleges leave COMED-K.

The KLE Society's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and its dental college in Belgaum have pulled out of the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) and opted to conduct counselling for postgraduate courses on their own. The two colleges have been granted deemed university status.

Two other institutions of the society, which were not granted deemed university status, its Bangalore-based dental college and engineering college in Belgaum, will remain with COMED-K. But the two colleges that left the consortium will use the COMED-K ranking for their seat selection process.

Date: 25-04-2006

CET cell sends admission tickets.

The Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell has commenced the process for dispatching CET-2006 admission tickets and the same is expected to reach all applicants by April 28. Karnataka candidates who have applied through schools and colleges can collect their admission tickets from the principals of their respective schools and colleges on or before April 28.

The admission tickets for Karnataka candidates residing outside Karnataka have been dispatched by post individually to their home addresses as furnished in their application forms.

As many as 88,721 candidates have applied for the CET, scheduled to be held on May 9 and 10 at 186 examination centres spread over the state. As many as 26,064 candidates are appearing in 49 examination centres in Bangalore and 62,657 candidates will be appearing in 137 centres located outside Bangalore. As many as 30,259 candidates have applied for the aptitude test for admission to architecture courses to be held on May 12 at 40 examination centres.

The candidates who do not receive CET-2006 admission tickets on or before April 30 are informed to contact the CET Cell Office, 18th Cross, Sampige Road, Malleswaram, with application number either in person or call 080-23319082 / 23564583 or fax- 080-23319083.

Date: 21-04-2006

ABVP to launch public movement against education bill.

The Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will launch a public movement against the Karnataka Professional Education Institutions Bill-2006 on April 30 at Davanagere, as it will be the death knell for poor meritorious students, said Prabhudev Kappagal, state ABVP secretary. Prabhudev said the Bill if implemented will dash the hopes of higher education for poor students.

Although there was ample opportunity for the State government to set up a single window system of central CET for professional courses in the State as per the Supreme Court order, giving permission for private professional colleges to conduct their own CET exams was a foolish point included in the present Bill. Thereby nearly 85 per cent seats will be under the control of private colleges.

As per the new Bill, the Government will conduct CET exams for 4,823 seats which include 4,334 engineering, 450 medical and 50 dental seats available in government and aided institutions. This will help private colleges to fill up 45,000 seats, depriving poor students, he feared.

As there will be no transparency in the private CET exams, only students with money can afford it. Conducting two CET exams was a clear violation of the Supreme Court order, he added.

Date: 10-04-2006

COMEDK entrance test on May 21.

The Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) will conduct its undergraduate entrance test (UGET) on May 21 for admission to medical, engineering and dental courses in private colleges attached to it.

The combined test for physics and chemistry is scheduled for the morning session of May 21. The biology test will be conducted from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. and the mathematics test from 3.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. on May 21.

Earlier it was announced that the Aptitude Test I and II (combined paper) for B. Arch course will be held in the morning session (10 a.m. to noon) on May 20. However COMED-K member institutions have decided to make admission based on the National Aptitude Test in Architecture conducted by NIASA. Therefore COMED-K will not conduct the test in Architecture

The Council of Architecture (Incorporated under the Architects Act, 1972) has issued a notification as follows-
National Institute of Advanced Studies in Architecture (NIASA), Academic Unit of Council of Architecture, will conduct the National Aptitude Test in Architecture. This test is mandatory for admission to first year of B-Arch course offered by all Unaided Institutes and participating Aided Institutes, imparting architectural education in India.

The test will be offered at Designated Test Centers located in Colleges of Architecture on all working days starting 1st May 2006.

Registration for the test will begin on 17th April 2006. For registration and other details please see the information on Website: www.niasa.org OR www.niasa.in OR www.nata.in OR contact the nearest college of Architecture.

Date: 05-04-2006

Karnataka moves closer to law on private CET.

The Karnataka assembly has passed a Bill permitting all admissions to private unaided professional colleges through an entrance test conducted by their association. However the council still has to debate the Bill. With the passage of the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation) Bill, 2006, the government CET is limited to four medical colleges (450 seats), 12 engineering colleges (4,369) and one dental college (60) that are government-owned/aided.

Admission to the remaining 3,145 medical, 2,540 dental and 40,314 engineering seats will be only through the private exam.

The Bill has been brought following the 93rd amendment permitting reservation for SC/STs and backward classes in private colleges. In both government and private institutions, 50% seats are reserved for SC/ST/BC students. In private colleges, 15 of the remaining 50% can be allotted to NRI students, while 35% is general merit. For unaided minority institutions, it specifies a minimum of 66% seats for their communities.

Date: 20-03-2006

CET 2006 will have bar coded answer sheets.

To improve the security system and make the entire exercise tamper-proof, the Common Entrance Test (CET) will have bar coded `OMR' answer sheets this year. It will, however, be limited to the seats in government, university and aided professional colleges, and seats in those private colleges that voluntarily offer seats.

The last date for submitting the CET application forms is March 28. The rank list will be published separately for different courses.

Admissions to engineering seats will be on the basis of a student's performance in CET and the PUC exams, the minimum marks for which will be 45 per cent.

On the other hand, only CET marks will be considered for admissions in private medical and dental colleges in keeping with the guidelines of the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Date: 01-03-2006

CET 2006 to be held from May 9 to May 12

The Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to undergraduate professional courses in government, university and aided courses in private aided colleges will be conducted from May 9 to 12. The examination schedule was notified here on Tuesday by the CET Cell.

The Cell has, however, clarified that if a consensus is not arrived at with the private college managements, the CET format will not be applicable to seats in unaided minority and non-minority colleges.

The last date for submission of the DD to the principals of schools and colleges for application forms within Karnataka is March 16. For candidates residing outside the State, the last date to submit the DDs by Speed Post to the CET Cell is March 18.

To know more details about CET-2006, click on the CET 2006 Web Page.

Date: 01-03-2006

Survey points that most students go by fee structure while selecting seats.

Final year B.Sc. students of the Bangalore-based Mount Carmel College, on the strength of a survey of 500 respondents from six Bangalore colleges titled "A study on the effect of fee restructuring under the Common Entrance Test scheme for admissions into professional colleges in Karnataka" found that most students go by fee structure while selecting seats, and not their interest. The study also found that 91 per cent of the parents agreed with their children's choice based on financial factors.

The team surveyed 500 students in M.E.S. Junior College; St. Joseph's PU College; Vijaya Junior College; Christ Junior College; St. Ann's PU College and Kendriya Vidyalaya, Yelahanka.

Seat-sharing between the State Government and managements has been an issue in recent years. The study disclosed that a majority of professional seat aspirants (68 per cent, to be precise) preferred a 60:40 ratio in the Government's favour. More seats with the Government means a better chance of getting admission on the basis of merit.

But ultimately, seat-sharing boiled down to numbers. Fifty-eight per cent of the students surveyed wanted an increase in the number of MBBS seats. Most felt that the availability of medical seats was much lower than the demand. The consistent growth in the number of engineering seats had not reflected in the medical education sector.

The image of the Government's Common Entrance Test (CET) for undergraduate professional courses was a key focus of the survey. It was found that 49 per cent of the respondents, both medical and engineering seat aspirants combined, disagreed with the view that the Karnataka CET was better than the ones in other States. Only 18 per cent felt otherwise. But a vast majority, almost 82 per cent, agreed that Common Entrance Test was an important examination to get into the professional stream.

However, only 20 per cent gave that status to the undergraduate entrance test conducted by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK). Most students felt that the COMEDK test was applicable only to those who could afford the high fees charged by private institutions.

Date: 13-01-2006

No solution to CET-2006 problem yet.

There doesn't seem to be any early solution working out even this year for the CET 2006 and students might have to go through similar tension-filled unpleasant situations they have been facing in the past few years. It might be logical to think that the government and the college managements would have learnt something from the near past to solve this problem early this academic year, but there hasn't been any progress so far.

The much-hyped central legislation for professional courses has been given a quiet burial. Higher education minister D Manjunath, who opposed the state legislation in favour of a comprehensive central law, has retracted his stance and is now supporting the state legislation.

The Karnataka government is now gearing to bring a new legislation for admission in 2006, or modify the draft legislation which was approved by the cabinet last year. Convinving the private college managements armed by the Supreme Court's August 12 judgment which did away with govt quota in unaided colleges is another ball game altogether.

Date: 16-12-2005

Warning against "All India Medical and Engineering Colleges Association"

The CET Cell on Thursday has warned the students aspiring to join the professional courses in Karnataka not to be misled by lofty claims made by the All India Medical and Engineering Colleges Association.

The association has been apparently issuing advertisements about holding an All India entrance test for management quota seats in under-graduate and post-graduate medical, engineering, para-medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing and technical courses during the year 2006-07.

The CET Cell clarified that this association has no jurisdiction over professional colleges in Karnataka and cautioned students aspiring for admissions to professional courses.

Date: 13-11-2005

Forum urges Karnataka government not to change CET system.

The Karnataka Education Awareness Forum has urged the Karnataka government to drop the proposal to bring about changes in the selection of students for professional institutions by rejecting the proposal to consider the marks scored in the CET alone for selection. The forum wants the government to continue the existing system taking into account 50 per cent of the marks scored in the Pre-University College and 50 per cent marks in the CET.

The main fear is that the change in the system would pose a threat to the students from rural areas and the weaker sections, who typically dont fare very well in the CET exams as compared to their urban counterparts. Inability to afford (or lack of) tution facilities is considered one major reason for this.

Date: 21-10-2005

CET 2006 marks may be sole criteria for dental and medical admissions.

Dental / Medical Admissions.
Earlier : CET Ranks issued by giving equal weightage to the Common Entrance Test and to PUC/12th Standard Marks in Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
Now : CET Ranks to be issued solely on the basis of performance in Common Entrance Test in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. PUC/12th Std marks only used as a qualifying mark. A medical/dental rank will be given to those who score a minimum of 50 per cent (40 per cent for SC/STs) in the physics, chemistry and biology combination in CET.

Engineering Admissions.
Earlier : CET Ranks issued by giving equal weightage to the Common Entrance Test and to PUC/12th Standard Marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
Now : Likely to remain same as earlier.

Date: 26-8-2005

Karnataka government to try to restrict the free hand given to private colleges.

Karnataka Higher Education Minister D Manjunath today said the State Government would pressurise the Centre to come out with a law. He said a state-level CET Bill would be unnecessary in the event of the Centre coming out with a legislation.

A meeting of Higher Education Ministers of all states had been convened in New Delhi on August 27 in the wake of the Supreme Court giving a free hand to private educational institutions with regard to admissions.

Date: 13-8-2005

All private colleges can fill seats independently from next year

In a judgment with wide ramifications on the future of professional education, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that unaided minority and non-minority institutions have absolute rights to establish, administer and admit students of their choice in medicine, engineering and other professional courses without government interference.

A seven-judge Constitution Bench headed by the Chief Justice R C Lahoti also abolished state quota and reservations in unaided private minority and non-minority colleges. This judgement would be effective from the next academic year 2006-2007 and all admissions made during 2005-2006 through court orders and directions of state committees would not be disturbed.

The bench allowed 15 per cent quota for NRI students in private colleges allowing them to charge higher fees. It was made clear that such seats should be utilised only for bonafide NRIs and merit should not be be ignored. The fees collected from NRIs should be utilised for the benefit of students from weaker sections.

However there should be no capitation fee and profiteering by colleges. Though every institution is free to devise its own fee structure, it could be regulated in the interest of preventing profiteering and capitation fee.

Date: 4-8-2005

390 students to be denied MBBS admission.

The Medical Council of India refused to approve admissions of 390 students who have got admission into the MBBS course in the state of Karnataka this year, on the basis that they have failed to secure the required 50 per cent marks in the CET. The students were admitted under the government quota.

The MCI also stated that students who have been admitted under the management quota and have failed to secure the minimum marks in COMEDK will have to meet the same fate.

As per the MCI regulations framed in 1997, candidates seeking admission to MBBS course have to secure minimum 50 per cent marks both in the qualifying exam (PUC, etc) and in the entrance test. These 390 students however, were admitted in violation of the regulations.

It has also suggested that the 390 seats could be offered to students who have secured the minimum required 50 per cent marks and above in the CET during the casual vacancy admission round.

Date: 21-7-2005

CET 2005 Counseling Schedules.

Initial Couselling Schedule (Engineering first half)

Updated Counselling Schedule (Medical, Engineering second half and Casual Vacancy Rounds)

Date: 20-7-2005

CET medical counselling today.

Medical Education Minister Iqbal Ansari will formally inaugurate the admission round seat selection for Medical, Dental, Indian System of Medicine (ISM) and Homoeopathy courses at the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell here on Wednesday.

The process will continue till July 25, including Sunday. Of the 3,335 MBBS seats, 1,784 will be available for selection in government quota. The number of medical seats available under the concessional fees of Rs. 16,200 will be 1,194 and of these, 385 seats will be available in the government quota.

The rest of the government quota seats will be available in unaided private medical colleges with a fee of Rs. 42,000. The fees for the remaining 563 seats will be Rs. 1,72,000. The number of BDS seats will be 2,290, including 1,171 seats under the government quota.

Of the government quota seats, 751 will be in government colleges. Fifty-one of these will be available for the concessional fees of Rs. 13,900. The fees for the rest of government seats will be Rs. 32,000. For 472 BDS seats, the fee will be Rs. 1.07 lakh. Students who have participated in the engineering counselling can take part in the medical counselling.

The casual vacancy round will be from August 13 to 24. The casual round for engineering and technology course is scheduled from August 26 to September 27. The casual round for Architecture seats will be held on September 28.

Date: 16-7-2005

Medical students to be sent back by RGUHS.

The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) has ordered several medical colleges in the state to discharge students who have been admitted on the basis of 12th exam scores.

In all, 40 students will have to be sent home as they did not take either the CET, Comed-K test or the test conducted by the religious minority association. Further, colleges that admitted students not on merit will have to shell out a fine of Rs 1 lakh per candidate.

And institutions that admitted NRI students, but did not produce the SC order, will have to pay Rs 2 lakh per candidate.

The Justice Venkataraman Committee, the admissions overseeing body, had submitted its report to the university recently. The irregularities had been pointed out by The Times of India (June 26: Erring colleges face the music). The RGUHS has sent out letters to managements, based on the observations made by the Justice S. Venkataraman committee and the syndicate subcommittee of the health university. Also on Friday, the Karnataka HC told RGUHS to crack the whip on five colleges that had admitted non-merit students.

The HC rapped KVG Medical College, Sullia; Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Science, Bellur; Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum; S. Nijalingappa Medical College, Bagalkot and Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College, Gulbarga.

Courtsey : Times of India

Date: 15-6-2005

CET Counseling put off indefinitely.

The Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell on Tuesday indefinitely postponed this year’s seat allotment to MBBS, BDS, BE and other professional courses.

Even as seat allotment began for ‘special categories’ (quota for physically handicapped, NCC certificate holders and sportspersons) on Tuesday, CET Cell special officer D N Nayak announced that seat allotment for general categories — originally scheduled to start on June 20 — was put off.

Seat allotment for special categories would continue till June 18 and the seats chosen during this period would be valid.

A revised schedule for seat allotment to MBBS, BDS, BE, B Arch, homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine (BAMS, BUMS and BNYS) courses would be notified shortly, Mr Nayak said, adding students would be given at least one week’s notice before counselling resumed. This is the second year in a row that the CET’s seat allotment has been stalled mid-way.

Reason

Sources in the medical education department said the government was yet to formalise and present in the Supreme Court a compromise formula of seat-sharing on a 50:50 basis reached with private college managements for its approval. Also, the seat matrix for the reserved and general merit categories has not yet been finalised and approval from Medical Council of India for the 5 new government colleges has not yet been obtained.

Date: 10-6-2005

Final split : 50:50 Ratio for Medical/Dental, 65:35 for Engineering

Conceding the demand of private college managements the State Cabinet on Thursday accepted 50:50 as the seat-sharing ratio between government and management quota in private medical and dental colleges.

With this, the uncertainty in MBBS and BDS admissions has been resolved, but at the cost of around 150 government quota medical and dental seats which will now go to the managements’ kitty. This is the second time in the last few days that the government has bowed to the diktat of private managements.

Earlier, the 55:45 formula mooted by the cabinet sub-committee on professional college admissions had been rejected by college managements, as they insisted on a 50:50 ratio. For engineering courses, there will be no change in the 65:35 ratio (65 per cent of intake in each private college to be filled by CET, the remaining under the management quota). Last year’s three-tier differential fee structure will continue for engineering, medical and dental streams.

The Cabinet had approved an increase in the number of MBBS seats in each of the four existing medical colleges in the State from 100 to 150. Mr Shivaram said the total intake in the four existing government medical colleges in the State at Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli and Bellary for the current academic year (2005-06) will increase from 400 to 600.

“The government has set the stage for a smooth counselling process for selection of students for admission in professional colleges by CET Cell from June 14,” Mr Shivaram said, adding that the government will continue to provide 100 per cent fee concession to SC/ST/ category 1 students and 60 per cent fee concession to category - B students.

Meanwhile, Consortium of Medical, Dental and Engineering Colleges in Karnataka (Comed-K) Chairman R L Jalappa welcomed the Cabinet decision. “The Supreme Court’s order was for a 50:50 share in seats. We gave our quota of 10 per cent seats last year only because CET counselling had started. There was no question of reconsidering the 50:50 ratio this year,” Mr Jalappa said.

The revised formula for medical and dental admissions has thrown open the following scenario.

Of the 50 per cent seats coming under the government quota for medical courses, 30 per cent (for SC/STs and poor meritorious students) will pay a subsidised fee of Rs 35,000 per annum while the remaining 20 per cent will pay Rs 1.65 per annum. Students opting for seats under the management quota have to shell out Rs 3.7 lakh per year.

For dental courses, 30 per cent students under government quota will pay Rs 25,000 per year and the remaining 20 per cent, Rs 1.1 lakh.

The fees for management quota is fixed at Rs 2.75 lakh per annum. In the engineering stream, 30 per cent students under the free seat quota will pay a subsidised fee of Rs 15,000 per annum and the remaining 35 per cent, Rs 50,000.

However, management quota students will have to shell out Rs 1 lakh per annum.

Courtsey: Deccan Herald

Date: 31-5-2005

CET 2005 Results out.

Results of the Common Entrance Test (CET) was announced on the internet and select telephonic services after 2 pm on Tuesday and will be at all CET exam centres at 11 am on Wednesday (June 1). The course-wise merit-lists of CET 2005, held in early May for admissions to MBBS, BDS, BE and BArch courses, will be put up at all 182 exam centres in the State by Wednesday morning. The results will, however, not be available at the CET Cell office.

For results on phone, students can call up the BSNL number 1255225 (prefix 9580 if outside Bangalore, 080 if outside the State). BSNL mobile subscribers can dial 12506 for the same service.

As the CET registration number has two alphabets, students must use the number of the alphabet instead of the letter. A becomes 01, B 02, C 03 and so on, ending with Z as 26. For example, CET registration number AZ654 should be dialled as 01 26 654 (01 for A and 26 for Z) and BX253 as 02 24 253.

The results are available on Spice and Reliance services too. Spice customers must SMS CET (space) registration number to 555. Students can get their results on Reliance World’s application suite ‘Exam Results’ by selecting ‘Get Results’. Students can register their numbers in advance so they would get results soon after 2 pm. They can also SMS KACET followed by registration number to 1234 or 3926.

The following are the websites where CET results would be available:

http://kar.nic.in/cet, http://cet.kar.nic.in, http://results.icenetworld.com, www.shimoga.net, www.indiainfo.com, www.thatskannada.indiainfo.com, www.karnataka.com, www.educhoice.org.

Date: 25-5-2005

Proposal to increase MBBS intake.

The Karnataka cabinet decided to increase the intake of merit students for MBBS courses in the government colleges from 100 seats to 150. The decision is subject to MCI approval, which the government hopes it will get. With this, 200 more students will get into the four medical colleges under the merit quota.

The cabinet also decided to sanction 29 additional MBBS seats to Yenopoya Medical College, Mangalore, and 16 seats to K.S.Hegde Medical Academy,Mangalore.

The cabinet sanctioned six additional post-graduate seats in each discipline in M.S. Ramaiah Dental College, Bangalore. The cabinet also accorded permission to upgrade infrastructure at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital and SDS Sanatorium.

The cabinet also decided to increase nearly 10-fold the fees for post-graduate medical and dental courses. Students who were paying Rs 1,000 in medical colleges for pre-clinical courses have to pay Rs 5,000 now. Those who paid Rs 1,000 for para-clinical courses will have to cough up Rs 10,000. The fee for clinical courses -- earlier Rs 5,000 -- has been increased to Rs 50,000.

Date: 19-5-2005

Supreme Court Clarification not clear.

The Supreme Court, while disposing of a petition filed by M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, directed that the seatsharing quota arrived at between the managements of engineering colleges and the fee structure that prevailed during last year should be maintained for the coming year too. During 2004-05, the government and private engineering colleges had agreed on 75:25 seat matrix.

However, the Karnataka government is considering seeking a clarification from the Supreme Court whether its order pertaining to seat-sharing and fee structure for engineering course is applicable to medical and dental courses for 2005-06 too.

Meanwhile, Comed-K will meet on May 20 to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court order. "Managements will decide on the formula to be followed for admissions 2005. We will also decide on the non-Karnataka quota,"Comed-K sources said.

Date: 14-5-2005

CET 2005 Solutions Out.

The Key answers of all Versions of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology subjects of ‘CET 2005’ have been posted HERE along with the Key answers of the Aptitude Test – Part – 1, inviting objections, if any, with regard to any of the published key answers.

The candidates / parents are hereby informed to file their objections, if any, on a plain paper indicating the Subject, Version-code, Question number along with their Name, Address and contact telephone / mobile number. They are also advised to enclose the supporting documents / justifications, if any. The objections should reach the Special Officer, CET Cell, 18th Cross, Sampige Road, Malleshwaram, Bangalore during office hours either in person or through ‘Speed Post’ on or before 18-05-2005. Objections received after 18-05-2005 will not be entertained.

The objections received by the CET Cell will be placed before an Expert Committee, whose decision will be final in this regard.

Date: 21-4-2005

New Medical, Dental, Nursing Colleges this year. CET will be held on time.

Even as the Supreme Court's verdict is awaited, the cabinet sub-committee on CET, headed by Karnataka deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah, has directed the CET Cell to go ahead with the entrance test from May 3. The sub-committee has directed the Cell to be "all set" for the exam even if there is a delay in the SC ruling.

The sub-committee has given its nod to register the six new government medical colleges in Bidar, Shimoga, Raichur, Mandya, Hassan and Belgaum as autonomous societies under the Karnataka Societies Act so that they can "enjoy maximum autonomy and flexibility in administration.

About 20 new nursing colleges, two dental colleges and an ayurveda college have got clearance from the sub-committee. Several medical and dental colleges that had applied for increase in intake have been given the nod subject to final approval by the cabinet.

Date: 5-4-2005

COMEDK Application Details

Required Items

DD for the amount of Rs.600/-, drawn in favour of "COMEDK 2005", payable at Bangalore.
Printed copy of Instruction sheet.

Other Instructions

Ensure that the application form is filled up completely.
All the columns of the application form must be filled up properly.
After you have filled your application form, click on the submit button only once to send the details to the server. The server will assign you an application number, and provide the facility to view/print your application form with the details you have filled, along with the application number.
Take a print of the application form.
Ensure that the application form is not damaged and is filled up legibly.
The application form should be complete and filled in all respects.
The completed application form must have the signatures of the Applicant and the Applicant's parent/guardian.
Kindly do not send any original documents along with the application form.
Kindly stick your recent passport size colour photograph only in the space provided. Do not staple or pin your photograph to the application form.
Kindly do not fold or crease the application in any manner.
Please adhere to the time schedule enlisted in the calendar of events.
Incomplete / incorrect / illegible applications are liable to be rejected without prior information to the candidate.
Any application received after the last date is liable to be rejected, without prior information.Application fee is non refundable.
Please send the following along with the completed Application Form:
- DD for Rs.600/-, drawn in favour of "COMEDK 2005", payable at Bangalore
- Date of Birth Certificate and Identity Proof. (Once you submit your online form, you will also have a provision to print a format of this form, which must be attested by a Gazetted Officer or the Head of the Institute where you studied.)
- An additional copy of your recent passport-size colour photograph.
The completed Application Form should reach the COMEDK office on or before 23/04/05.

To APPLY CLICK HERE

Date: 24-3-2005

Non-Karnataka students can appear for COMED-K to be held on May 1, 2005

In a major decision, the Consortium of Medical, Dental and Engineering colleges (Comed-K) has decided to conduct the COMED-K test on May 1, 2005 and not to restrict the test to Karnataka students like the government conducted CET.

The Comed-K notification will be out on March 28 that will give details of the number of colleges and the seats that will accept the Comed-K scores. In 2004, 20,000 students took this entrance test with 16 medical colleges, 22 dental colleges and 34 engineering colleges accepting the Comed-K scores.

Date: 19-2-2005

CET-2005 on May 3,4. For Karnataka students only.

In a major announcement by the CET Cell, the dates for the entrance test were announced to be May 3 and 4. However the notification declared that the CET would be held for only the Karnataka students, and hence the non-Karnataka students need not apply. After all the problems faced by the goverment last year with the seat selection issue with private college managements, the government seemed to have take the easy way out on the non-Karnataka issue atleast, to avoid further complications later.

Important Dates

EVENT	DATE
CET Exam	May 3,4 2005
Last date for submitting DD	March 3, 2005
Application forms to reach colleges	March 15, 2005

The CET forms are expected to be obtained from the school or colleges where the student finishes her 12th or equivalent directly. The candidates will have to submit a DD of Rs 550 to principals in advance in favour of The Special Officer, CET Cell, Bangalore.

Last year, 1,09,314 candidates applied for CET, including 27,897 non-Karnataka students. Around 93,000 students appeared for the CET.

Meanwhile the other body, Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental colleges in Karnataka (Comed-K), which had conducted a parallel entrance test last year in behalf of few of the professional colleges, have not announced their test dates or other information.

Date: 31-1-2005

A solution to the 15,000 empty seats.

Over 14,000 engineering and 1000 medical seats lie vacant in professional colleges in Karnataka in 2004-05, and with proposals like limiting CET to only Karnataka students, things could only get worse. Karnataka has always been proud of the number of students it has had from all over the country. A major reason for this, has been a good, clean entrance exam – CET, and plenty of professional, (especially engineering), seats on offer.

However this government’s plans seem to be different. Higher education minister D. Manjunath has been quoted as saying, “I believe that the CET should be held only for Karnataka students.”

The reason for the large number of vacant seats is believed by the government to be due to the bad infrastructure in some of the colleges, and so the Visvesvaraya Technological University(VTU) has been asked to review and cancel affiliation for colleges not meeting AICTE norms. Definitely canceling affiliations of colleges not up to the mark is a good thing, but a problem of 14,000 seats being vacant cannot be solved by discontinuing affiliations to a few below-par colleges. Especially with the government sanctioning five new engineering colleges for 2005-06, things will not improve much.

Definitely allowing the non-Karnataka students to write the CET, and giving them a quota of the seats is the way to go.

Date: 29-1-2005

CET discussions start early this year. No consensus though..

Discussion between the government and the various professional college managements have started this year. Last year, the entire admission process was postponed twice and delayed by nearly two months following the government and managements taking the case to various courts. However no consensus has been reached so far.

The Karnataka government has proposed to file a joint declaration between the government and the colleges before the Supreme Court spelling out a consensus seat sharing ratio and fee structure for admissions for the academic year 2005-06. However the meeting remained inconclusive, with managements insisting that further discussions could take place only after the apex court delivered its verdict.

No decision had been taken on whether last year’s seat sharing matrix would hold good this year. Several petitions filed by private managements and students regarding fee structure and seat matrix pending before the Supreme Court are coming up for hearing next month.

Last year after countless meeting and negotiations and the CET counseling having being postponed twice, the government and the colleges agreed, as a one-time measure, to abide by a 75:25 seat sharing arrangement for engineering courses and a 60:40 ratio for medical and dental courses. A three-tier differential fee structure was agreed upon by the government and managements for all the three streams. A good start has been made this year starting off discussions a little earlier. However only if a consensus is reached early, will students, the main sufferers from last year's CET debacle, benefit this year.

Date: 8-1-2005

CET fraud probe against 90 students quashed.

The Karnataka High Court on Jan 7, 2004 quashed proceedings of a CET Cell inquiry which found 90 non-Karnataka students, who appeared for the 2003-04 Common Entrance Test, guilty of malpractice.

The HC has ruled that the inquiry by former CET special officer and KPSC secretary B.A. Harish Gowda had failed to come up with evidence to prove that the students are guilty of gaining admission through fraud. Based on the inquiry report the state had on June 2, 2004, ordered the removal of the students from the medical, engineering and dental colleges they had been admitted to.

The students were found guilty by the CET Cell inquiry of scoring abnormally high marks, not commensurate with previous academic achievements, including their Plus-Two performance.

The inquiry concluded that these students probably had prior knowledge of the questions, saying they were probably leaked from one of the 39 treasuries where they were housed, prior to their release for the exams. The inquiry arrived at this conclusion after finding a common pattern in the answering of questions by the students.

Date: 14-11-2004

Longer classroom hours.

Engineering students in Karnataka will spend longer hours in their classrooms this year. The delay in resolving the CET imbroglio has forced colleges to increase the number of 'contact hours' for its students. Worse, many students will end up losing precious classroom hours, as the CET Cell has not completed the admission process.

The CET Cell will continue selecting students till November 21. Despite this, a majority of engineering colleges commenced classes in the second week of October, and have even notified the last date for payment of fees for exams. Hence, students who are admitted after October first week will have to fend for themselves or attend tuitions to catch up with their classmates.

With the confusion in fees, many students who have been selected by premier institutions are going in for lesser-known colleges and seeking transfer of seats

Date: 13-10-2004

Three more dental colleges likely to be set up in Karnataka.

The Dental Council of India has suggested setting up of more dental colleges and a proposal has been submitted to the government. Sources report that the government wants to have a dental college within the premises of government hospitals.

Already, Bangalore Medical College has a dental college at Bangalore and there is a need for establishing dental colleges at Vijaynagar Institute of Medical Sciences, Bellary, KIMS, Hubli and Mysore Medical College, Mysore.

The setting up of a dental college requires huge funds. Dr C Bhasker Rao, acting president, Dental Council of India has opined that there is a need for establishing more dental colleges.

There are 47 private dental colleges and only one government dental college in the State. Dr Biradar said plans are afoot to start BSc Nursing and BSc Technical courses at KIMS. Presently, only one government BSc Nursing college is functioning in Bangalore and there is a need for starting one in north Karnataka. In all probability, the BSc Nursing course may start from next year.

Date: 13-10-2004

Discounted engineering seats.

If students were desperate a few weeks ago, it is now the turn of engineering colleges in Karnataka. With D-day nearing, despairing colleges are going the whole hog to attract students and some have even gone to the extent of offering a 50 per cent discount on tuition fees.

The trend is along expected lines, but colleges have gone a step ahead. Some of them - like Bellary Engineering College, Nadgir Educational Institutions and Sri Venkataswara Engineering College - have set up camp at the CET cell, displaying details of vacancies, course, college location etc.

Colleges are even taking students visiting the Cell office to their campus, showcasing the facilities and the discount in fees.

Date: 01-10-2004

Private colleges finally agree to admit students.

CET students can finally heave a sigh of relief, for private college managements on Tuesday agreed to admit students on a three-tier fee structure. However, students will have to sign an undertaking on agreeing to pay the difference in amount, if the fee fixation committee headed by Justice Rangavittalachar alters the fee structure.

Following Comed chairman R.L. Jalappa's salvo that colleges will not admit students unless the government resolves the confusion, chief minister N. Dharam Singh held a meeting with private college managements and assured them that the government would safeguard the interest of the institutions to the best of its ability. "Everything has been resolved now. The admission process will be smooth," Singh told reporters.

Echoing the CM's statement, Comed chairman Jalappa said in a press release: "Keeping in view the anxiety of the parents and students, we have decided to put an end to the stalemate. Therefore, all Comed-K colleges are requested to admit students from the CET Cell, after getting them to sign an undertaking that they would adhere to any fee increase by the fee fixation committee."

Compromise formula

Following the assurance, Comed-K decided to shelve its earlier proposal to collect a uniform fee of Rs 2.08 lakh for a medical seat and Rs 1.47 lakh for a dental seat.

The compromise formula on medical and dental admissions on a 60:40 basis with a three-tier fee structure agreed to by the managements and government earlier this month will now hold good.

Under this arrangement, of the 60 per cent medical seats in the government quota, 30 per cent paid a subsidised fee of Rs 35,000, while the remaining 30 per cent students paid Rs 1.65 lakh per year. For the 40 per cent seats in the management quota, the fee was fixed at Rs 3.75.

Similarly, for dental courses, 30 per cent students under government quota paid Rs 25,000 per year and the remaining 30 per cent paid Rs one lakh. Management students paid Rs 2.75 lakh.

Date: 25-9-2004

Many colleges refuse to admit CET students. Scandal in admissions.

Even as the casual vacancy round of admissions to MBBS and BDS courses took off without hitches on Thursday, several harassed students — medical and engineering — came to the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell on Thursday, after the colleges they had chosen earlier refused to admit them.

Though a few colleges affiliated to the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental colleges in Karnataka (Comed-K) relaxed their stand and agreed to take in students, at least six colleges sent back students outright.

“As the High Court has only partially accepted the ‘arrangement’ agreed upon between the colleges and the government, we cannot continue with the arrangement and hence cannot accept admissions from the CET Cell,” stated one of the colleges in its rejection letter.

Some colleges that refused to admit CET students-

Siddartha Medical College, Tumkur
MS Ramaiah Medical college
MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bangalore
Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Belgaum
BM Patil Medical College in Bijapur
KVG Medical College in Sullia.

Medical Education Secretary D V Prasad said colleges cannot deny seats to students sent by the CET Cell under any circumstances.

“Students just have to wait for a few more days, probably till September 30, let’s see what the colleges do,” said Mr Prasad, when contacted.

Quoting a court order in 2001, where a student was allowed to attend classes six months after admissions to it, he said the move by colleges to reject students was just another tactic to garner more seats in the management quota. “The colleges are trying to dishonour their part of the agreement,” said Mr Prasad.

Scandal in admissions

The Justice S Venkataraman Admission Committee has unearthed several cases of “multiple admissions” wherein same students have allegedly secured medical admissions (under management quota) in more than one Comed-K institution at a time. The Committee has so far stumbled upon as many as 31 such cases after scrutinising the admission lists furnished by some Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges (Comed-K) for first year MBBS course in 2004-05.

“By doing so, these colleges wanted to prove that there were no seats left under the management quota so that they can later sell those seats (concealed under multiple admission cover) for a higher fee,” officials said.

Date: 12-9-2004

CET Counseling starts peacefully. However, COMED raises some issues.

The seat selection took off peacefully on the first day of counseling. All the 373 seats in the General Merit and 23 seats in General Merit (Kannada medium) categories of concessional fees quota were filled up at the end of the first day.

Only 298 of the 1,000 MBBS seats in the concessional fee quota of seats remained unfilled, after the top 1,500 rank-holders were allotted seats. As many as 447 of the 583 seats in higher fees category remain vacant. However, all 34 naturopathy seats, 56 unani seats and 219 homeopathy seats found no takers among the top rankers. Three of the 842 ayurveda seats were taken up. As for dental seats, 645 of the 668 concessional fee quota seats remained unfilled and none of the 575 seats in the higher fee category were taken. Though the Cell had beefed up security, counselling went off without a hitch.

However the COMED seems to be raising another issue now. The Comed-K chairman R L Jalappa met Chief Minister N Dharam Singh with a fresh demand: if the formula does not stand legal challenge in the High Court, the State government must subsidise the CET quota students. This inspite of the Supreme Court giving its stamp of approval for the compromise formula on seat-sharing and fee structure.

Private colleges and the government recently finalised a compromise on MBBS admissions on a 60-40 basis. Of the 60 per cent seats in the government quota, 30 per cent would have to pay a subsidised fee of Rs 35,000, while another 30 per cent students have to pay Rs 1.65 lakh per year. As for the 40 per cent seats in management quota, Rs 3.75 lakh was the fee fixed.

Date: 8-9-2004

Counseling from Sep 10. Non-Karnataka counseling on Oct 20, 21.

This is the third time that the CET schedule is being revised this year and hopefully the last time. Fresh counselling for admission to all streams of professional courses will commence at the CET Cell from September 10 with the seat selection process for NCC and sports categories.

The counselling process will go on till November 17 and will include fresh counselling for all streams for both Karnataka and non-Karnataka students. However, there will be no recounselling for candidates who have already claimed seats under the physically handicapped quota.

CET counselling schedule

Admission round
NCC and sports quota: Sept 10
MBBS/BDS seats-Karnataka: Sept 11 - 15
BE seats-Karnataka: Sept 16 - 22 and Sept 28 - Oct 19

Casual round
MBBS/BDS seats-Karnataka: Sept 23 - 25

Admission round
B Arch seats-Karnataka: Sept 27

Admission round
BE seats-Non-Karnataka: Oct 20 - 21

Casual vacancy round
BArch seats-Karnataka: Oct 25
BE seats-Karnataka: Oct 27 to Nov 10

Casual vacancy round
BE seats-Non-Karnataka: Nov 16 - 17

The candidates who are appearing for the counselling for the first time should bring original documents as detailed in the CET-2004 brochure. However, the candidates who have already appeared for counselling and who were allotted seats by the CET Cell from July 8 to August 19 need not bring their original documents.

However, they should bring photocopies of documents along with the acknowledgement card issued by the CET Cell (green card) and the original bank challan for having paid the fees. The fees already paid will be adjusted against the payment to be made during the fresh counselling and excess amount, if any, will be refunded.

Date: 3-9-2004

60:40 split for medical/dental. SC okays seat-sharing. Counseling likely from Sep 10.

The Supreme Court agreed to a joint memorandum between the Karnataka government and private professional college managements envisaging a compromise seat-sharing formula of 75:25 in engineering courses and 60:40 in medical and dental courses.

Earlier the government and the college managements agreed to a 60:40 split of seats for medical and dental colleges, 60% for the government and 40% for the college managements. The 75:25 sharing for engineering colleges had already been agreed upon.

The CET Cell will commence the seat-selection process afresh from rank one for medical, dental and engineering courses on September 10 or 11. Fresh counselling is necessary as there is a change in seat-sharing ratio. Up to Aug. 19, the Cell has been admitting students on a 75:25 basis.

New colleges: According to sources, the government had sanctioned five new medical colleges in Bidar, Belgaum, Raichur, Hassan and Chamarajanagar and the overall intake in government medical colleges has also increased by 110 seats this year.

Date: 29-8-2004

Out of court settlement reached. Non Karnataka students will have seats too.

The Karnataka government and private colleges on Saturday came to an agreement on seat-sharing and fee structure for engineering in what appears to be an 'out-of-court' settlement. However nothing has been decided about medical and dental till now and is likely to be discussed on Monday(30th August).

Main highlights of the agreement (for engineering only) -

Seat sharing to be in the 75:25 ratio between government and colleges.
In the 75% seats, 65% to be filled by Karnataka students, 10% to be filled by non-Karnataka students.
Proposed Fee Structure

Category % of seats Fee (Rs) p.a.

Karnataka Quota (Merit) 30 15,000

Karnataka Quota (Payment) 35 50,000

Non-Karnataka Quota 10 90,000

Management Quota 25 100,000
Counseling most likely to be held again. Not before Sep 3.
Agreement subject to approval by Supreme Court on Sep 3.

Category	% of seats	Fee (Rs) p.a.
Karnataka Quota (Merit)	30	15,000
Karnataka Quota (Payment)	35	50,000
Non-Karnataka Quota	10	90,000
Management Quota	25	100,000

Non-Karnataka students can avail accommodation in Bangalore. For details click HERE.

Date: 28-8-2004

SC postpones CET Case to Sept 3.

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned to September 3 hearing on petitions filed by private colleges challenging a Karnataka law for 75:25 ratio between the government and managements for admission to unaided medical, dental and engineering courses in private colleges.

Meanwhile, the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP) has called a Karnataka bundh on Saturday to protest the failure of the government in handling the CET issue.

Date: 27-8-2004

Final Decision to be worked out on Aug 28.

The final fee structure and the split of seats is likely to be worked out by Aug 28 by the government and the private college managements, one day after the Supreme Court's decision on this matter.

The fee structure might be on the lines of what was fixed last year — a two-slab fee structure for students in private colleges. The management quota fees will be either the same or slightly less than the fees fixed by the Justice Murgod Committee.

However, the fees for government quota students might be far lesser (ranging around Rs 45,000 for MBBS, around Rs 30,000 for BDS and Rs 12,000 for BE courses as was set last year).

Seat selection through the Common Entrance Test Cell is set to resume early next month.

Recounseling

Engineering - Recounseling less likely, unless drastic change in fee.
Medical/Dental - Recounseling more likely due to possible change in the seat-sharing ratio and more colleges getting approval and being added to the seat matrix.

However, if a student wants to forfeit his/her seat, the full money paid to the CET cell will likely be refunded. Usually, if a student cancels a seat while the counselling process is on, he/ she has to forfeit 20 per cent of the fees.

Date: 18-8-2004

Management Quota Seats struck down in 5 medial colleges.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has struck down the number of seats in the management quota in five medical colleges in Karnataka for the academic year 2004-05, as a penalty against them for having made excess admissions in the last academic year.

These colleges are :

The KVG Medical College, Sullia
Yenopaya Medical College, Mangalore
Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangalore
S Nijalingappa Medical College, Bagalkot
AJ Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalore

These seats will be transferred to the Government quota only after the Central Government renews permission.

Date: 13-8-2004

Government to contest SC. Minority Colleges to Hold Test.

The State government will challenge the recent Supreme Court Division Bench order allowing an NRI/foreign quota within the management quota in private professional colleges.

Briefing reporters after a review meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on the Common Entrance Test (CET), the CM said questioning the NRI quota, which was allowed earlier this week in two colleges to the extent of 15 per cent of the management quota, will be part of an interlocutory application to be filed on Friday.

Basically the state's argument is if management quota seats are allowed, then the fee structure will not remain same for all students as per the TMA Pai SC judgement. Hence either the earlier system of seat distribution and management quota system should be followed or a new system with no management quota seats should be followed.

Minority Colleges to Hold Test - KRLM- CAT 2004

If the government CET and the COMED's UGET were not enough, the minority institutions of Karnataka have decided to hold a test for entrance into professional colleges.

As many as 26 minority medical, dental and engineering colleges have now come together under the aegis of the Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Professional College Association to conduct a separate entrance test - KRLM- CAT 2004 for admissions under the management quota in their colleges. These include six medical, 10 dental and 10 engineering colleges.

The colleges have announced a packed schedule whereby they propose to issue application forms, conduct the examination, announce the results and hold the admission process in eight days flat.

With the Supreme Court fixing a 50:50 seat sharing arrangement in minority colleges, as many as 200 medical, 250 dental and 800 engineering seats will come to the kitty of these colleges.

The association has already started issuing application forms from Thursday, and they propose to conduct the examination on August 17 and announce the results on August 19. The last date for submitting the applications is August 16. A majority of these colleges had stayed away from the CET and Comed-K. The following is the list of member institutions of the Association:

Medical colleges

Al Ameen Medical College, Bijapur (Religious-Muslim); A J Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalore (Linguistic-Tulu); MVJ Medical College, Bangalore, (Linguistic - Tamil); Navodhaya Medical College, Raichur; SDM Medical College, Dharwad (Linguistic-Tulu); Vydehi Institute of Medical Science, Bangalore (Linguistic -Telugu).

Dental colleges

Al Ameen Dental College, Bijapur (Religious-Muslim); Al-Badar Rural Dental College and Hospital, Gulbarga (Religious-Muslim); A J Institute of Dental Sciences, Mangalore (Linguistic-Tulu); Bangalore Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Bangalore (Linguistic-Telugu); Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, Virajpet (Linguistic-Kodava); Farooquia Dental College (Religious-Muslim); Raja Rajeshwari Dental College and Hospital (Linguistic-Tamil); SDM Dental College, Dharwad (Linguistic-Tulu); Oxford Dental College (Linguistic-Telugu) and Vydehi College of Dental Sciences (Linguistic-Telugu).

Engineering Colleges

Anjuman Engineering College, Bhatkal (Religious-Muslim); Bahubali College of Engineering, Shravanabelogola (Religious-Jain); Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Bidar (Religious-Sikh); HKBK College of Engineering, Bangalore (Religious-Muslim); KCT College of Engineering, Gulbarga, (Religious-Muslim); MVJ College of Engineering, Bangalore (Linguistic-Tamil); New Horizon College of Engineering, Bangalore (Linguistic-Sindhi); P A College of Engineering, Bantwal, (Religious-Muslim); SDM College of Engineering, Dharwad (Linguistic-Tulu) and Oxford College of Engineering (Linguistic-Telugu)

Date: 9-8-2004

Seats for non-Karnataka students also.

Nearly 700 BE seats are likely to be offered to non-Karnataka students who have appeared for the Common Entrance Test (CET), as some of the managements of private colleges have agreed to go by the CET merit list for seat selection. In a major reprieve to students, private engineering colleges ? both those affiliated to the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges in Karnataka (Comed-K) and those who are not ? have made seat selection easier, at least for engineering courses.

While the Forum of New Engineering Colleges ? comprising 56 of the 113 BE colleges ? decided to offer all their seats based on the CET merit list, Comed-K has decided to conduct common counselling for BE seats. Forum Convenor D H Shekar said colleges would reserve 5 to 10 per cent of their seats for non-Karnataka students. The remaining seats would be filled with Karnataka students, also based on the CET ranking. He said all these colleges would call for applications and hold individual counselling in their colleges on different days, which would be notified on their websites.

As each of the 56 colleges has 120 to 160 seats as their total intake, about 6,720 seats would be in the management quota. Of these, nearly 700 are likely to be reserved for non-Karnataka students.

SCT Trust Chairman K A Subramanya, who is one of the Forum members, however said a few colleges were ?unconditionally willing? to allow the CET Cell to conduct counselling for the management quota seats. ?Even if the Supreme Court upholds a 50:50 seat-sharing ratio, we will ask the CET to send 75 per cent of students to our college. Besides, we are willing to give the CET a share of management quota seats for counselling for non-Karnataka students,? he said. This, however, was not endorsed by the other Forum members.

Meanwhile, Comed-K has set up a sub-committee to work out the modalities of centralised counselling for its colleges. Twenty-three colleges with a total intake of about 10,000 seats are affiliated to Comed-K. Of these, 2,500 seats are in the management quota.

Counselling will only be based on the Comed-K undergraduate entrance test (UGET) ranking.

?The sub-committee comprises retired IAS officers B R Prabhakar and K V Surendranath, and representatives of four engineering colleges. It will decide what scheme of common counselling to have and submit a report by Monday,? said Comed-K Executive Secretary S Kumar. The consortium will finalise its scheme on Monday.

Date: 5-8-2004

New CET Counseling from 7 Aug.

The ongoing admission round seat selection process for Medical, Dental and Indian System of Medicine & Homoeopathy courses was suspended on 15-07-2004. The Second Round and Casual Vacancy Round for Medical, Dental and Indian System of Medicine & Homoeopathy courses will start from 7 August. During this round, action will be taken to re-allot the seats with regard to all the candidates including the candidates who have been counselled and allotted with seats from 12-07-2004 to 15-07-2004. In other words, all the candidates having medical ranks from first to last rank should attend the Second Round and Casual Vacancy Round for Medical, Dental, Indian System of Medicine & Homoeopathy seat selection process invariably, since the seats allotted to them from 12-07-2004 to 15-07-2004 and 30th & 31st of July, 2004 will be modified in accordance with the merit and option of candidates. This will include Thirty candidates who had selected seats in St. John?s Medical College, Bangalore and whose seats are deemed to have been cancelled in view of Hon?ble Supreme Court?s order dated 30-07-2004, there by necessitating fresh counseling. During this round, the seats newly added by the MCI will also be offered for selection.

The Medical, Dental, Indian System of Medicine & Homoeopathy and Engineering seats selected by Physically Disabled, NCC and Sports Special category candidates will remain unaltered.

The new schedule for seat selection can be obtained under the following link
NEW SCHEDULE FOR SEAT SELECTION

Date: 18-7-2004

Supreme Court declares 50:50 Ratio. CET Counseling cancelled.

In view of the orders of the Hon?ble Supreme Court of India dated 15-07-2004 prescribing the seat-sharing ratio between Government and Private Un-aided managements at 50:50, the seat selection process conducted by the Common Entrance Test Cell at 75:25 ratio is hereby cancelled. Therefore, the seats allotted in favour of the candidates in Government, Aided and Private Un-aided colleges are also automatically deemed as cancelled. The seat selection process will not take place from 16-07-2004 till further notification. The new schedule for seat selection with regard to Medical, Dental, Indian System of Medicine & Homoeopathy and Engineering courses will be notified shortly.

In view of the above developments, candidates are advised not to report to the allotted colleges and they will have to re-appear for seat selection on the revised dates to be notified. The fees paid by the candidates will be adjusted upon fresh selection of seats. The candidates are advised to securely preserve the admission orders, acknowledgement card (Green Card), bank challen, etc. and bring the same during fresh round of seat selection process. In the event of failure to get the allotment of seats / non-selection of seats, the fees already paid by the candidates will be returned to them during the fresh round of seat selection process

Date: 12-7-2004

No schedule for non-Karnataka student's CET Counseling yet.

The revised schedule for the CET counseling (Karnataka students) can be obtained HERE

However, there has been no intimation for the non-Karnataka students. Keep checking the site for futher information.

Meanwhile the government and the colleges are yet to reach to an agreement and both are looking at the judiciary system for help.

Date: 3-6-2004

CET / COMED and other issues still not sorted out.

The confusion over the allocation of engineering/medical/dental seats for 2004 has still not cleared out even after the formation of the government in Karnataka. No decisions have been taken to admit students or the number of students on the basis of the Common Entrance Test (CET) held by the government and the COMED entrance test held by the COMED, or in any other way.

The main bone of contention still remains the percentage of seats to be allocated through CET(by the government) and by management quota seats by the colleges (this includes seats to be allocated through COMED). The government is insisting on a 75 %-25 % split in favor of the government, while the college management refusing to agree any other split other than a 50 % - 50 %. The colleges even threaten to approach the Supreme Court if forced to fill in 75% of seats through the government while the government will be put in bad light as in sacrificing the interests of meritorious students, if it agrees to the 50-50 split of seats.

The delay is also due to the fact that no party has got a clear mandate in the recently concluded assembly elections, and the Congress and JD(S) governments are fighting tooth and nail for ministerial seats and positions. With the cabinet itself not decided, the government is finding it difficult to solve other problems like the CET issue, which it claims though is of very high priority.

Date: 2-6-2004

Dental colleges deny seats despite HC order.

The issue of admissions to post-graduate dental (MDS) courses is heading for another legal confrontation.

A day after admissions were ?completed? to post-graduate professional medical and dental courses (on Monday) by the Department of Medical Education, several private unaided colleges refused admission to students on Tuesday.

This, despite the fact that these students have paid up Rs 2 lakh ?tentative? fees fixed by the high court (which is 20 times more than what they used to pay till last year), and the HC categorically stating that admissions to dental courses should be on a 50:50 ratio.

Some students have even obtained an interim HC order, directing the colleges to admit them as they came under the government?s 50 per cent merit quota.

However, the students were sent back without the college officials even looking at the HC order, the disgruntled students stated in a complaint.

Most colleges are arguing they will only take 20 per cent of students from the government quota, as they have filled the remaining 80 per cent seats. This violates the HC and the government order.

Date: 21-4-2004

COMED and the story so far.

Till last year, the government of Karnataka conducted CET was being used to fill in 75-85 % of the seats in all Engineering/Medical and Dental Colleges in the state of Karnataka. The fees was fixed, and all seats were available based on merit to students who took up this test. The remaining seats were filled up by the colleges themselves, known as ?management quota? fees.

The Supreme Court in its landmark decision, however, decided that private, unaided colleges need not fill in all their seats through the government (The Government conducted CET). Most colleges in this state are private. Henceforth it was decided that 50% of the seats would be filled through CET and the remaining by the colleges themselves. However the Supreme Court made it clear that the colleges should hold an entrance test and fill in students based on that. Also the colleges can fix their own fees but it should be fixed reasonably, and possibly ratified the government.

The Government thus decided that since their share of the seats were limited, they would offer those seats only to the Karnataka students. (Earlier around 20% of the total seats were marked for the non-Karnataka students).

However, many engineering colleges decided that they would give the government a part of their share of seats(due to various reasons). Among these seats the colleges would decide to allocate a part of these to non-Karnataka students too.

However most of the medical/dental and few engineering colleges refused to part with their share of seats. Now to fill in their seats, as per the requirement, they had to conduct a entrance test. Here comes in COMED-K, which is conducting this entrance test. However, the fees that is to be charged by them, or other expenses are not disclosed. The PG entrance that was conducted by COMED recently, had parents complaining that all rank holders had to pay very high fees too.

To make matters worse, further negotiations between the government and the college managements has been delayed due to the elections.

The COMED applications are out. More details on how to apply HERE .

Date: 6-3-2004

CET 2004 Postponed

With continuing of votes on May 13, the CET 2004 on May 12 and 13 has been postponed. It will be held on May 18 and May 19.

For complete timetable, click on More Info on CET

Date: 21-2-2004

Engg Colleges agree for their seats to be filled by Govt CET. Non-Karnataka students also to get seats

Private engineering colleges in the State have agreed to fill their quota of seats with students sent by the government for the academic year 2004-05 while private medical and dental colleges have decided to convey their decision in this regard soon.

Main points -

Only one CET for engineering. Medical and dental not yet clear.
Exact split of seats between government and colleges not yet decided. Could be around 50-50.
Seats under government likely to be filled by Karnataka domicile students only.
Colleges can specify what percentage of their seats can be filled through CET by non-Karnataka students.
COMED backtracks on having its own CET for engineering.
Fees can be set by the colleges, unless the committee decides to have a uniform fee structure for all colleges. However, for all students, Karnataka or non-Karnataka, same fees will be charged. Forms not yet out.

Bottom Line : Only one CET for engineering will be held. That will be held by the government. Both Karnataka and non-Karnataka students can apply for it. Certain seats will be filled my management quota by colleges. Fee structure not yet clear.

Meanwhile, the state government has decided to postpone its decision to conduct a Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to degree courses in allied health sciences by one year.

CET which was supposed to be held for B.Sc (Nursing), B Pharma and BPT (physiotherapy) -- besides ten para-medical courses from this year, will now be held only from the academic year 2005-06. As in the previous years, CET will be held only for medical, dental, engineering, homeopathy and Indian Systems of Medicine this year.

Date: 1-1-2004

CET 2004: COMED wants 70 pc seats

If this year's professional college admission process was complicated, next year's is likely to get worse as private professional colleges have geared up to demand a larger share of seats. Not just that. The state government is yet to constitute the two committees to be headed by retired high court judges to finalise the fee structure and seat matrix. The SC had ordered the constitution of two such committees

The Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges (COMED) - floated last year as a forum for all private professional colleges - recently submitted to the government a draft scheme of the admission process for 2004-05.

According to the draft scheme - specifying admissions to medical and dental courses for now -

Entrance test by colleges to fill up 60-70 per cent of management quota seats and fix Rs 2.5 lakh fee per annum for medical courses and Rs 1.75 lakh for dental courses.
Common Test to be held by colleges.
Based on the performance in the entrance test, a common merit list would be drawn up by adding qualifying examination marks for Karnataka students and the test marks for non-Karnataka students.
A tentative time schedule, between March 31, 2004 and August 15, 2004 has been drawn up for admissions.

Date: 3-12-2003

Govt nod for three new engg colleges

The Karnataka government has granted approval for three new engineering colleges in the state. The colleges will start functioning from 2004. The cabinet sub-committee approved applications submitted by,

Nadiger Education Society, Bangalore.
Moogambiga Charitable Trust, Bangalore.
Sri Mookambika Temple Trust, Kollur, Udupi district.

Out of 10 applications for new colleges, 7 were rejected because they did not meet the requirements. The colleges have been permitted to offer BE courses in Electronics and Communication, Computer Science, Mechanical and Information Sciences disciplines, offering 60 seats in each discipline.

However the final clearance has to be given by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The total number of engineering colleges will go up to 120 if all the three colleges are cleared.

Date: 15-10-2003

Vacant seats

About 4,300 seats in various engineering colleges are lying vacant after CET-2003.

The vacancies were highest in the branches of Information Sciences (1,200) and Computer Sciences (500). The situation was better than last year when 6,500 seats had not been filled up. Besides, the number of vacancies in the State was lesser when compared with those in other states

Date: 15-10-2003

2 committees made to regulate admissions for next year !

The government has decided to set up two separate committees headed by retired judges of the Karnataka High Court to regulate admissions as well as fee structure from the next academic year for the colleges offering professional courses as per a Supreme Court directive.

As per the directive of the Supreme Court issued in August this year, the committee on fee structure would prescribe fee structure for each institution after receiving proposals in this regard from them. The fee fixed by the committee shall be binding for a period of three years.

Date: 24-9-2003

Casual Vacancy Round Starts - 28 vacant medical seats at the end of counselling.

As many as 170 seats were offered today to students on the first day of the casual vacancy round. Around 5000 students appeared for the casual vacancy round, and yet 28 seats remained vacant. The main reason being parents could not shell out Rs 1.97 lakh per annum as tuition fees.

The number of merit seats have come down by half this year. Only 25 per cent of the total 2,500 medical seats are ?free? seats (Rs 16,200 in a government college and Rs 45,000 in a private college), while a huge chunk ? 40 per cent ? are priced at Rs 1.97 lakh, compared to CET last year, when 50 per cent were ?free? seats and the fees for a free seat even in a private medical college was just Rs 16,200, while a payment seat was Rs 1.1 lakh.

The cut-off rank for a free medical seat this year was 909. However, the only respite was the 50 newly added medical seats in KMC, Hubli. Being government seats, these were offered for Rs 16,200 and were grabbed like hot-cakes.

Date: 8-9-2003

CET students to report on Sept 10.

The last date for reporting to the respective colleges for candidates who have selected seats in the admission round (engineering/ medical/ dental/ Indian system of medicine and homoeopathy) up to August 14 has been fixed at September 10.

The candidates who fail to report on or before the said date at the respective colleges, such seats will get automatically cancelled and they will be deemed as casual vacancy seats, according to a press note from CET special officer. Such candidates can participate in the casual vacancy round in the order of merit starting from September 22 along with other candidates who have not selected any seats.

It is clarified that they would be entitled to claim casual vacancy seats when their turn comes on the basis of CET ranking. But they do not have the assurance/guarantee of getting back the seat originally allotted to them. The fee paid during the admission round will be adjusted in the casual vacancy round.

Date: 24-8-2003

Colleges accept 75:25 formula.

Private college managements, to the relief of thousands of students, on Friday agreed to continue with the existing 75:25 seat sharing formula and fee structure for admission to professional courses for this academic year. This eliminated the possibility of recounselling for students who had already secured seats through the CET Cell.

The consensus between private college managements and the government was arrived at a meeting convened by Chief Minister S M Krishna here to find a solution to the admission issue following the Supreme Court’s recent order stipulating a fresh seat sharing formula.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Higher Education Minister G Parameshwara said the seat selection process would now resume from August 28 at the CET Cell for seats for which the exercise was incomplete. The seats which have already been allotted through the CET Cell remain valid. The existing fee structure stipulated by the Karnataka High Court will continue for all professional courses.

He said managements of private professional colleges had agreed to leave 75 per cent of the seats to the government to fill and retain 25 per cent for admission to professional courses for the academic year 2003-04. Dr Parameshwara said it was agreed at the meeting that the 75 per cent admission through the CET route would be valid for this year only and a new format would be worked out for next year.

Non-Karnataka quota
By maintaining the status quo in the seat sharing formula announced by the government, the interest of non-Karnataka students who faced threat of losing their admissions has also been protected. Dr Parameshwara said the number of seats which remain unfilled during the counselling by CET would go to the management quota.

Friday’s developments come as a big relief to students aspiring for admission to engineering, medical and dental courses as the counselling process had to be suspended due to the Supreme Court judgement of August 14.

Date: 23-8-2003

Glimmer of hope for CET Students.

The state government and professional college managements seem to be inching towards a consensus on accommodating the 25 per cent students admitted in excess of the Supreme Court’s 50:50 seat sharing formula with the managements reiterating their commitment to protect students’ interest.

After a general body meeting of the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges (Comed), chairman R.L. Jalappa said the managements had arriv