Chennai: Nearly 400 undergraduate medical and dental seats will be available in Tamil Nadu for the last round of counselling, which will be conducted simultaneously by the central and state govts this week.
Annaii Medical College, a self-financing medical college in Sriperumbudur, was granted 50 additional seats for admission in 2024. These seats must be affiliated by the TN Dr MGR Medical University before they are added to the seat matrix.
In the central counselling conducted by the medical counselling committee under the Directorate General of Health Services, 677 MBBS seats across the country, including 449 in the All-India quota, 143 in deemed universities, and 59 NRI seats, were vacant.
In the BDS category, 391 seats, including 266 from the All-India quota, were vacant. Among these, 102 MBBS seats, including 24 seats in govt medical colleges and 25 BDS seats from govt dental colleges were vacant in Tamil Nadu. These seats were shared by Tamil Nadu for admission through the All India quota. Besides these, 49 seats in deemed universities, 17 NRO seats and 12 open seats were vacant in Tamil Nadu.
Officials in the state selection committee said there were no vacant seats in state govt medical colleges. Detailed seat martix was not available at the time of going to print. The central counselling committee will allow choice locking until Oct 26, while the state counselling committee will allow choice locking until Oct 28. The result for the stray counselling will be available on Oct 29.
5L security deposit
The state selection committee has said eligible candidates must pay an additional security deposit of 5 lakh for MBBS course and 2 lakh for BDS course to take part in the stray round or subsequent round (if any).
"The amount will not be refunded if the candidate does not join the courses after allotment," the notice said. In addition to the security deposit, the candidates must pay tuition fee and discontinuation fee if they do not join courses after allotment. They will also be barred from counselling for 2025.
"The amount will be adjusted in payment and tuition fee if the candidate is allotted a seat," the notice said. The arrangement has been made to avoid vacancy at the end of counselling, the notice said. The committee has asked candidates to think carefully before filling their choices in the final phase of counselling.
The security deposit move has left parents and student counsellors upset. "They have asked us to pay 5 lakh in two days. I haven't got admission as of now, and when they cannot guarantee seats to students, it is unfair to ask a guarantee from them. If counselling authorities stopped free exit from the first round, this would not have happened," said Student Counsellor Dr Manickavel Arumugam.