Date:19/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/07/19/stories/2006071914341000.htm

Kerala

Verdict may upset online counselling

G. Mahadevan

A setback for students from Backward Classes

Online registration of options to continue till 5 p.m. on Wednesday
Changes in fee structure may force students to rework options

NIC officials say CAP software can handle any changes in seat/fee structure

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The interim verdict of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday relating to admissions to professional colleges in the State is likely to throw out of gear the schedule of the ongoing online counselling process for allotment of seats to the colleges.

If the admissions this year will be held on the basis of the High Court verdict, all categories of students, except probably the SC /ST category, will have to resubmit their course-college options based on the change in fee for various courses.

Those in the general merit category, for instance, will have to resubmit their options if the Government announces reduction in fee in the self-financing colleges it controls. As the verdict does away with the `freeship seats' in self-financing colleges, the students in the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and Economically Backward categories who submitted options for those seats will have to re-order their priorities based on the higher fee that will be charged in these colleges.

Meanwhile, the ongoing online CAP will continue and students can submit course-college options till 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

According to officials at the office of the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations and at the National Informatics Centre (NIC), at least three to four days of extra time would have to be given to the students to resubmit their options. This, in turn, is likely to push back the declared schedule for the first allotment and the subsequent re-allotments.

Officials of the NIC, however, told The Hindu that the software being used for the online CAP is capable of handling any of the probable variations in seat shares and fee for various professional courses in the changed circumstances.

"The trial allotment that we carried out has given us the confidence that we can complete the actual allotment in 24 to 36 hours. So, even if some extra days are given to enable students to resubmit options, I don't expect any major upset in the online CAP. Moreover resubmitting the options is merely reordering of priorities. So, that will not take much time," the technical director of the NIC, here, Prasadu Varghese, said. Since last year's CAP was also carried out using technical support from the NIC, any changes that might be needed in the software for handling this year's CAP could be effected in a matter of hours, he added.