State CET cell wants more time for MBBS and BDS admissions

With no immediate relief from the Bombay high court (HC), the state common entrance test (CET) cell now plans to file another intervention to seek an extension of

With no immediate relief from the Bombay high court (HC), the state common entrance test (CET) cell now plans to file another intervention to seek an extension of the deadline undergraduate (UG) medical and dental admissions. The Bombay HC is currently hearing petitions filed by over 74 students from the scheduled tribe (ST) communities, as directed by the Supreme Court. The state CET cell had filed an earlier intervention in this case on August 16.

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“The court has time till August 31 to clear this matter whereas we’ve only been granted one week after that to complete admission. Apart from the second round of common admissions, which has been stalled, we still have to complete the mop-up round as well as the institutional round. This process will take around three weeks so we will request the court to give us more time,” said Anand Rayate, commissioner, CET cell.

The SC acted upon a petition filed by the students from the ST community, who alleged that they were deprived of quota seats as they could not produce caste certificates in time. The SC, in its order last week, requested a special bench at the Bombay HC to solve the issue and extended admissions deadline as well. Instead of the original deadline of August 18, the state can now finish filling up all remaining seats in medical and dental institutes by September 8. “We will seek time till September 21,” added Rayate.

Students usually get three days to complete their admission formalities after the announcement of an allotment list, but this year, the process has taken over two weeks due to confusion over newly-included seats in dental courses as well as floods in Maharashtra. However, on August 13, the SC called for a stay on UG medical and dental admissions until there’s further clarity on petitions filed by students from the ST communities.

Parents and students are a worried lot. “Delay in admissions means students will miss more of the academics. Colleges have already started regular classes but those students whose names appeared in the second seat allocation list are now stuck and will miss at least a month’s worth of classes,” said Sudha Shenoy, a parent.