NEET paper-leak fallout to delay Maharashtra engineering, pharmacy admissions

“Last year, the CET result was declared on June 15. This year too, despite conducting two CET examinations, we were preparing to declare the second CET result by June 15 and had aligned the admission schedule accordingly. But the NEET issue has affected the entire timeline,” Patil told reporters.

This year, the CET Cell conducted the MHT-CET in two sessions, giving candidates two attempts on the lines of the national-level Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). Apart from conducting entrance tests, the CET Cell also manages admissions to professional courses including engineering, pharmacy and law through the CAP process.

“Admissions for other courses will begin as scheduled, but engineering and pharmacy admissions will start only after the NEET results are announced,” Patil said.

According to the CET Cell, NEET scores are considered for admissions to BTech courses in Agricultural Engineering, Biotechnology, Food Engineering, Leather Technology, Packaging Technology, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Printing Engineering, Fashion Technology and Textile Chemistry.

Officials said engineering admissions cannot proceed for other branches while excluding these specialised courses. “That would be unfair to students because many take a final decision only after seat allotments. A large number of candidates who appear for both NEET and MHT-CET decide between medicine and engineering only after NEET results are declared,” an official said.

With revised NEET results unlikely before mid-July, the CAP rounds and subsequent admissions process are expected to stretch well beyond the usual schedule, potentially impacting the academic calendar of engineering and pharmacy colleges across Maharashtra.

Colleges told to end ‘hidden charges’

In a separate move, the Maharashtra government has decided to crack down on colleges allegedly collecting additional fees under various heads despite the state’s fee-waiver schemes.

Patil said colleges would be instructed to merge all charges into a single consolidated fee structure and display it prominently on campus.

The move is expected to strengthen implementation of the state government’s 100 per cent fee-waiver scheme for girls from families earning below Rs 8 lakh annually. Several colleges had allegedly continued charging students separately under heads such as development and laboratory fees despite the tuition waiver.

“As the scheme covered tuition and examination fee waivers for girls from economically weaker sections, colleges were charging other fees under different heads. Despite the scheme, girls still had to pay additional amounts,” Patil said.

“The new decision is aimed at ending this practice. Colleges can charge separately only for optional facilities such as hostel accommodation, transport or swimming pools, not for regular fees,” he added.