Hundreds of candidates hoping to get a medical seat stood along with their parents in long queues on the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) premises here on Thursday as the authority had called for offline counselling for allotment of 20 seats in the extended mop-up round.
These seats, which had been cancelled by candidates to whom they were allotted earlier, included five government seats available for ₹16,700 a year each and 15 private seats available for ₹6.33 lakh a year each.
The authority issued a notification on its website on Wednesday evening, and parents and students started lining up outside the KEA office as early as 6.30 a.m. on Thursday even though the counselling was scheduled to begin at 10.30 a.m.
The seat allotment was done based on National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test ranks. After the five government seats were taken, several candidates left disappointed as they did not want the “expensive” private seats. At 1 p.m., when KEA officials made repeated announcements that there were only three seats remaining, several parents and students chose to stay on in anticipation. The seat allotment got over by around 1.30 p.m.
Sachin S. Hiremath, one of the lucky 20 who got a seat, said, “I had not got a medical seat initially so I opted for an engineering seat. It was my dream to become a doctor, so I am glad to have got this opportunity.” He said although he had got a seat in the mop-up round conducted last week, his admission procedure could not be completed as he was unable to procure the demand draft for the fees because of continuous bank holidays.
150 more medical seats
With the Supreme Court allowing Kanachur Institute of Medical Sciences to admit 150 students on Monday, the State government is likely to conduct counselling for these seats next week. The Medical Council of India had denied permission for admissions in this college after inspecting it, but with the court allowing the college to admit students, counselling is likely to be done by the Karnataka Examinations Authority next week.