Vacancy concern continues in B Pharm admissions in Maharashtra, 17,000 of 46,109 seats yet to be filled

Experts have blamed the three-month delay in conducting admissions for B Pharm colleges for the tepid response from students. This year, admissions began only in September. Initially, the admission process was stuck at the registration stage as the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) continued the process of granting approval to new colleges. However, just a day before CAP was scheduled to begin, a total of 18 degree colleges for Pharmacy were barred from admissions for non-compliance with PCI norms. This was the outcome of a crackdown by the Maharashtra Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) on Pharmacy colleges not fulfilling government stipulations.

“Several colleges had allegedly obtained approvals by submitting forged documents, including fake utility certificates, possession proofs, and building plans, following which a re-inspection was ordered by the state’s higher and technical education department, as per standards laid down by the PCI,” a DTE official said, adding that these colleges were kept out of CAP for the first two rounds.

“But all of them were brought in for the third round, after the colleges obtained relief from the court against the action taken by the PCI… This automatically increased the pool of seats, portraying a larger vacancy at the end of the third round,” the official further said.

Last year, there were a total of 41,282 B Pharm seats, of which 12,714 remained vacant.