Third allotment tomorrow

The third allotment to Professional Degree Courses, Kerala 2009 will be announced on 8th September 2009. The actual time of allotment has not been given so far.This allotment /re-allotment will include all Courses and Colleges in the Government/Aided/KAU category as well as the Government and Private Self financing Colleges coming under the purview of the allotment of the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations except the Government seats in those Private Self financing Engineering Colleges which have closed the admissions in Government quota with the second allotment. Candidates allotted/re-allotted to all courses as per the third allotment have to remit the fee/balance fee/deposit at one of the selected branches of State Bank of Travancore (SBT) on 9th or 10th of September 2009.

Admission to all Courses will be on 14th September 2009. Last date for Cancellation of Allotment/Admission based on Third Allotment will be 16th September 2009.

Even as the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations is getting prepared for the third allotment, there is no announcement on the part of the Government so far on the reduction in fee in Government seats in Government Controlled Self financing Colleges.

The Government had a few weeks back, announced its intention to reduce the fee structure in the Government seats in Government Controlled Self financing Colleges. However, no official announcement has come so far on this. So the third allotment to Government seats will also be based on the fee structure announced at the beginning of CAP 2009. The fee structure in Government Controlled Medical and Dental Colleges was a three tier one with a specified number of candidates in BPL (or low income category if sufficient BPL candidates are not available)/SEBC category admitted in each College to get a concession in fees. The eligible candidates for this concession would be identified college wise after the admissions are closed. For Engineering course there was no such three-tier fee structure. It was uniformly Rs. 25,000/- for all students admitted against Government seats.

Since the admissions are entering the final stages, particularly for the MBBS/BDS courses for which the admissions have to be closed by 30th September 2009, the candidates and their parents are anxiously waiting for the announcement of the Government on the reduced fee in Government Controlled Self financing Colleges.

At this stage, a change of fee structure seems to be totally ruled out since such a decision may lead to litigations. It would not be desirable to change a fee structure after the allotments have been announced. So the only solution it seems would be a concession in fee that is likely to be extended to the candidates already admitted. This can be a concession in fee for the General category candidates who have to pay Rs.90,000/- for MBBS and Rs. 88,000/- for BDS in Government Controlled Self financing Colleges. In Engineering stream candidates admitted in Government quota were required to remit Rs.25,000/-.

Since the allotments already made cannot be disturbed at this stage, it is very much likely that the three tier fee structure in the Medical stream in Government Controlled Self financing may be extended to the Engineering stream also on closing of admissions, to keep the assurance given by the Government. Such a decision will be advantageous to some of the candidates admitted. But the students who did not opt for these colleges on account of the higher fee structure would be the affected ones. Although they would have become eligible for a concession on account of their BPL/Low Income/SEBC benefit, they would have kept away from opting for these colleges on account of the higher fee structure.

The row between the Admission Supervisory Committee and the Managements of the Private Self financing Engineering Colleges over the filling up of the lapsed seats generated after 14th August 2009 based on the terms and conditions of the
agreement continues even now.

Uncertainty is the characteristic of Professional College admissions in Kerala. The year 2009 is not different. However, this year, there was a timely commencement of classes after a very long time. But a dispute free admissions process with definite terms and conditions on the Fee and Seat structure continues to be a dream!