Thiruvananthapuram: In an unusual decision, the Kerala Government has issued an order allowing self-financing engineering college managements to admit students who had not attempted the entrance exam to BTech seats remaining vacant even after spot allotments. The order says that such seats could be filled based on marks scored by students in the higher secondary classes.
Every year, several seats remain vacant even after the completion of the admission process following the entrance exam and spot admissions. These seats subsequently lapsed. These seats, which are certain to lapse in government or private self-financing engineering colleges, are now proposed to be filled by the government based on higher secondary marks.
The government, however, said that it would announce the decision on filling vacant BTech seats in government and aided colleges later.
"Over the last few years, the government has received several petitions to cease the conduct of the state engineering entrance exam. But no decision has been taken on the matter," said an official.
The latest order also does not categorically mention that students who did not take the engineering entrance exam could be admitted to BTech, leading to confusion. According to the order, students may be given admission based on ‘AICTE guidelines.’ It also does not state that the admissions could be carried out by self-financing engineering colleges. Moreover, the ambiguous order could lead some students to believe that it applies to Medical courses as well.
Against this background, a modified government order will be issued soon, said an official.
Meanwhile, the existing order says that seats vacant after completion of the admission process by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations, Kerala, could be filled with students who scored at least 45 percent marks in the Science-Maths combination in higher secondary.
Currently, around 30 percent of the total BTech seats remain vacant in the state. When seats remain unfilled for all four years of the course, the management suffers a huge financial loss. In some colleges, even 50 percent of the seats are vacant. The government’s plan is to avert such a situation by admitting students who did not take the entrance exam.