New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The third round of counselling for admissions to IITs, ISM (Indian School of Mines), NITs (National Institutes of Technology), IIITs and other government-funded technical institutes began today. The process is being carried out by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA).
Earlier on Monday, availability status and seat allocation for the third round counselling was released by JoSAA, a body set up by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) to manage and regulate the joint seat allocation for admission to the above institutes. An updated schedule for the allotment process is available on www.josaa.nic.in.
Students whose names have appeared in the third seat allotment list can accept and withdraw from seats at a reporting centre for the third round from 10 am to 4 pm till July 12 and from 10 am to 1 pm on July 13.
This change was introduced after the Supreme Court on Monday gave a green signal to continue admission to premier institutes like IITs and NITs by lifting a stay order it had issued on July 7 based on a petition contesting grace marks awarded to candidates.
In a hearing on the petition filed by three students who have successfully cleared the JEE Advanced, the SC has given a go ahead for the admissions to the institutes.
The petitioners had alleged that they were not getting admissions in colleges of their choice as grace marks were awarded to all candidates irrespective of whether they attempted the questions or not. The bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A M Khanwilkar had thus ordered a stay on the counselling and also restrained High Courts from accepting any writ petition in the matter.
“As directed by the Supreme Court of India, the third round of counselling will start from July 11,” said a statement made by JoSAA on its official website. Close to 3,200 seats were lying vacant across IITs, NITs, IIITs and other GFTIs after second round of allotment. Only 68 out of these were available in 23 IITs, including the Indian School of Mines-Dhanbad (ISM-Dhanbad).
“IITs will have to give an undertaking and develop a mechanism that such mistakes will not recur and ensure that no such situation arises in which bonus marks will have to be awarded to all the students,” the bench said, adjourning the case for a hearing in October.
The results of the JEE Advanced 2017 were declared on June 12. Of the total 2,20,000 students who had appeared for the test held on May 21, as many as 2700 aspirants were from Odisha. Around 300 Odia students had made it to the merit list.