Bangalore tops Karnataka CET

Cheers to Bangalore, the results of the Common Entrance Test (CET) 2011 are out.

While the results of CET, for which examinations were held on April 27 and 28, were put up on websites at 1pm on Monday for students to view, the same would be announced at CET centres this morning.

This year, as many as 1,16,972 candidates applied for the test, and of them, only 1,07,820 appeared at the 235 exam centres across the state.

Aditya Gaonkar P of Vijaya Composite PU College, Bangalore, topped the entrance test in the Engineering category. It may be noted that it was the same Aditya who emerged as the state topper in IIT-JEE exams, the results of which were published last week.

In IIT-JEE, Aditya had secured the 151st rank at the all-India level. Ramya R of MES PU College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Bangalore, secured the first rank in Medical/Dental. She also secured the top slot in the ISM and Homeopathy.

Engineering dreams of over 10,000 crash
This year, 60,543 candidates are eligible for engineering seats, against the 71,639 last year. That is because the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has revised the eligibility slab for aggregate marks in Science subjects from 45% to 50%.

Announcing the results on Monday, state higher education minister VS Acharya said: "This year, the eligibility criterion has been revised for engineering courses. Earlier, it was 45% aggregate marks from the science subjects and now, it is 50%. So, many students would be left out."

Meanwhile, the number of students eligible for medical and dental courses has risen. This year, 12,537 students are eligible for dental and medical courses. Last year, this number was 5,783.

Counselling from June 9
The counselling would begin on June 9, while the counselling for physically-challenged candidates and for medical seats would be conducted from June 20.

Fee deadlock remains 
Though the results are out and the counselling dates have been fixed, the seat matrix and fee issue still remains unresolved. The managements of private professional colleges in the state are not ready to accept the fee structure proposed by the state government. But a confident Acharya reiterated on Monday that everything will be resolved by this evening.

"The fee and seat sharing have already been finalised. The only thing left is signing of a consensual agreement with those who are ready to accept them. As of now, we have finalised two categories of fees-Rs30,000 and Rs35,000. The seat sharing ration is 45:55, with 45 being for government quota," said Acharya.

Acharya clarified that those who do not want to follow the fee slab prescribed by the government would have to go by the Padmaraj Committee report.

Acharya, however, would meet the management representatives on Tuesday and the issue will be finalised. Even the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association (KUPECA) has planned a general body meeting on the same day.

According to Acharya, the private colleges do not have any option, other than falling in line with the government. "They can't say they will go their own way, because admissions need to be approved by the Department of Technical Education," he pointed out.

Seat matrix for medical courses by June 9
State medical education minister SA Ramdas was confident of getting approvals for medical seats in government medical colleges in the state by the next two days. "Some colleges have already received approvals for seat matrix from the Medical Council of India. Some, including the Mysore Medical College, are yet to get and that will be allotted in the next two days and the complete seat matrix for medical courses will be announced by June 9," Ramdas said.