Karnataka: Discounted seats available at private medical colleges, upto 40 percent discount

Bengaluru: NRI and Management quota seats are there for the asking, with a 40% discount tag attached to them this time, in various private medical institutions of Karnataka. Prior to the discount each of these seats was being given away, between Rs. 22 lakh and Rs. 41.98 lakh a year.

Hindu reports that last year the same category of seats were given away at a price of Rs. 1.3 crores for the entire duration of the course. The same seats were priced at Rs.1.88 crore at the beginning of the admission season for 2017-18. Buyers for the NRI and Management quota seats have been few, leaving 676 of a total of 773 vacant, even after the mop up round. The reason ascertained for this slump by officials is –demonetization.

This is the first time that these seats were made available to medical aspirants, through a common counselling process, by the Karnataka Examinations Authority(KEA); based on National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) scores.

When compared to other category seats, it has been observed that except for 20 spots, the rest have been taken up by aspirants, be they in government medical colleges as government-quota seats or private seats in private medical colleges. The costs for each of these seats has ranged between Rs.16,700, Rs.77,000 and Rs.6.32 lakh.

The vacant seats in the NRI and Management category have been handed to the respective colleges along with the un allotted student merit list, in accordance with the Supreme Court order. The ratio for each vacant seat being: 1:10 ( 10 candidates per seat).

Chairman, Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation, Mr. Jayaram said college managements were in a hurry to fill these seats by Thursday. “Several medical college seats are going a begging and we were given the seats only late on Tuesday evening. So we have just about two days to ensure that these seats are filled. Despite the discounts, we are certain that all these seats may not be filled,” he added.

Parents have another tale of woe to relate. They allege college managements to have “fixed deals” prior to the admission process. A low score medical aspirant’s parent said, “We did not pick a seat in a medical college and instead chose an engineering seat as the fees under the other quota was Rs.42 lakh a year. The same seats are now available for Rs. 30 lakh a year. Had we known this earlier, we would have waited for this round.”

Officials of the Medical Education Department, however, refrained from commenting, saying they would first have to conduct an inquiry into it.

Meanwhile, Colleges will have to first exhaust the merit list given to them, before admitting any other candidates, they added.

For the 20 remaining seats, against cancellations, under the government, government quota, and private quota allotment will be done once again, in the extended mop up round, by the KEA, on Thursday.

Aspirants who have yet to get an allotment, can take part in this offline counselling.

A KEA notification states that counselling will be stopped once the seats are filled. The candidates will have to pay the fee for these seats, in the form of demand drafts, reports The Hindu.

For further details, candidates may visit the KEA website.