Maharashtra Medical admissions: 100 new seats added for stray vacancy round causes unrest

Seat matrix for the online stray vacancy round one was released on Tuesday.

Students seek a sympathetic view from the CET Cell, requesting that already admitted students be allowed to participate in the stray vacancy round. (File photo)

The addition of as many as 100 new seats in medical colleges across Maharashtra toward the fag end of the admission process has triggered unrest among candidates who have already confirmed their seats. Frustrated at being deprived of an opportunity for upgradation, several students have written to the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell, demanding that they be allowed to participate in the stray round, which is closed to those who have already secured admission by the third round.

Seat matrix for the online stray vacancy round one was released on Tuesday. After observing an increase in seats – with some of those in preferred medical colleges, candidates who have already secured admission by round 3 of Centralized Admission Process (CAP) were upset for losing their chance to upgrade the seat. Candidates claimed that this is injustice as students with lower merit will now be able to grab these seats.

Even as there is a rule that after the third round there will be no upgradation, candidates demand that it is only fair that CET Cell makes an exception by allowing students to participate in stray rounds, specifically for those colleges where new seats are added. “It makes a huge difference when an established college like Ashwini Rural College gets 50 seats. It’s a pity that meritorious but borderline rank students settled for lower colleges or took admission to BDS up to third round and students below their rank grab higher ranked or newly added seats in vacancy rounds,” states the letter sent to CET Cell by multiple candidates.

Story continues below this ad

One of the candidates explained that in case of failure in securing a desired seat in MBBS due to the limited pool of seats, by the third round some students choose to take admission to BDS which allows them to take admission to a good college on the same merit. And now if more seats are added to MBBS, it is frustrating for them to see that students with less merit will get a chance to secure those in the stray round.”

While students seek a sympathetic view from the CET Cell, requesting that already admitted students be allowed to participate in the stray vacancy round, the CET Cell is not likely to make any changes. “We are following rules,” said an official.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
Maharashtra