KEA to conduct second stray vacancy round for pending medical seats

There are 143 unfilled undergraduate medical (MBBS) seats remaining in Karnataka after completion of the medical stray vacancy round recently. On demand from medical seats aspirants, the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has decided to conduct a second stray vacancy round for undergraduate medical seats and has already written to the Union government for permission.

The KEA has also decided to write to the National Medical Commission (NMC) to extend the admission dates for the medical colleges.

This year, 11,020 medical seats were allotted to Karnataka. The KEA, which is the seat allotment agency of the State, has completed four rounds of NEET counselling, including mop-up round and stray vacancy round, for the undergraduate medical seats.

The KEA announced the medical stray vacancy round on September 28 and completed the admission process on September 30. Earlier, stray vacancy round was the final round for medical seat allotment and all pending seats were filled in this round. However, this year, all other quota medical seats were filled, but around 143 management quota medical seats remain unfilled.

S. Ramya, Executive Director of KEA, told TheHindu, “Due to high cost of fees and other issues, many students are not interested to opt for management quota seats in the initial rounds of seat allotment. They wait for government or private seats. We have already completed four rounds of medical seat allotment and the medical stray vacancy round recently. But many medical seat aspirants who failed to get the seats in four rounds of seat allotment have requested the KEA to conduct a second stray vacancy round for pending medical seats. On their demand, we have decided to conduct this, but the Union government’s permission is a must. I have already written letter to the Union government.”

Caution deposit increased

According to the government rules, caution deposit is a must for candidates willing to participate in the UGNEET mop-up round or stray vacancy round. Earlier, the KEA had fixed the caution deposit of ₹1 lakh for candidates who participated in the stray vacancy round. However, now it has decided to revise the caution deposit from ₹1 lakh to ₹10 lakh. All category candidates should pay the caution deposit to KEA.

As per the KEA rules, if a candidate gets the medical seat in the second stray vacancy round, the caution deposit will be adjusted towards the fee. In case a candidate gets the medical seat in the second stray vacancy mop-up round and fails to report to the college, then the caution deposit will be forfeited.

“In the early seat allotment rounds, some candidates who opted for seats failed to report to the college, which resulted in the seats remaining vacant. To avoid incidents like these, we have decided to increase the caution deposit up to ₹10 lakh. Now, only genuine candidates will participate in these rounds. The fee for management quota medical seats is more than ₹30 lakh. So, the caution deposit of the candidate will be adjusted with their fee during reporting to the college,” Ms. Ramya explained.