Seats vacant after 2nd round, dental colleges offer ‘fee discount’

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, December 26

Wary of seats going vacant this time, some dental colleges in the state are offering discount in tuition fee to students.

As many as 970 applicants are eligible at the start of the third round of counselling (mop-up round) to fill 88 MBBS and 479 BDS seats. However, many dental colleges fear all seats may not be filled as a majority of these applicants are aspiring for MBBS seats.

Nine medical and 15 dental colleges offer 1,375 MBBS and 1,140 BDS seats, respectively, in Punjab and the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, is conducting the centralised counselling to fill these seats on the basis of NEET-2020.

In the first two rounds of counselling, some dental colleges could not get sufficient number of students for their BDS seats. Genesis Dental College, Ferozepur, has 58 vacant BDS seats out of 100, followed by Adesh Dental College, Bathinda, which has 39 of its 100 seats vacant.

Not only this, 54 of Adesh College’s total 150 MBBS seats are lying vacant after the first two rounds of counselling. Let alone management quota MBBS seats, the college is yet to fill its 38 government quota seats due to a legal dispute over the fee structure. A writ petition over the fee structure for government and management quota seats in the college is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

While the state government is insisting the college collects Rs 3.50 lakh per year tuition fee (with 10 per cent increase every year) for government quota seats, the college is demanding Rs 9 lakh per year in tuition fee (with 10 per cent increase every year) on all its 150 seats, which include 75 government quota and 75 management quota seats.

Before the start of the mop-up round of the counselling to fill the vacant seats, some dental colleges are offering lowered fee. These colleges are asking students to pay government quota fee against vacant management quota seats. Under the management quota, colleges charge Rs 2.20 lakh per year as tuition fee for the BDS course. However, for a government quota seat, the fee is Rs 1.65 lakh, with 10 per cent increase every year. However, private dental colleges in the state have 237 vacant government quota seats at this stage apart from 227 management quota seats.

Govt quota fee for management seats

• Before the start of mop-up round of counselling, some dental colleges are asking students to pay govt quota fee against vacant management quota seats
• Genesis Dental College, Ferozepur, has 58 vacant BDS seats out of 100, followed by Adesh Dental College, Bathinda, which has 39 of its 100 seats vacant