Medical, engineering. seats still vacant

Puducherry: Medical and engineering seats in large numbers are still vacant in government and private colleges in Union Territory of Puducherry.

The deadline for conducting counselling for engineering courses ended on August 15 and for medical courses on September 30.

“Even after the deadline ended in September, on October 6 a special counselling for MBBS and BDS vacant seats surrendered by private Colleges was held and it resulted in hundreds of vacancies in engineering colleges and arts and science colleges. It should be connected to the fact that about 2,000 applications are still waiting for admission in arts and science colleges”, said a spokesperson from Centralized Admission Committee (CENTAC) Students Parents Association.

Many institutions and colleges across the country are conducting special and spot counselling to fill vacant seats.

“AIIMS Patna is conducting a special counselling on October 17. The Territorial administration should show the political will to approach the Central government and other regulatory bodies seeking permissions to conduct another round of counselling.  This will benefit several hundreds of deserving students of the UT”, says an office bearer of CENTAC Students Parents Association.

Ruling out the possibility of filling the vacant engineering seat through lateral entry, he said that it is untenable because these are vacancies arising now in the first year of the course and through lateral entry, only second year seats can be filled.

The Education minister of Puducherry, R Kamalakannan said that the government will take immediate action to fill the vacant seats.

“I have talked to the education secretary regarding this and a meeting would be conducted on Monday with education secretary and other officials. We would discuss all the possibilities to fill the vacant seats immediately” the minister told DC.