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Journalism of Courage
While lakhs of students aspire to get into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs),299 seats are vacant after the first round of allotment this year. Except for the handful of vacancies for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and candidates with physical disabilities,the rest of the seats will remain vacant.
After the first round,figures revealed that 9,319 candidates were allotted seats,while the total number of vacancies across various IITs is 9,618. This includes 4,848 seats for general category,2,599 for Other Backward Classes,1,441 for SCs and 730 for STs. Currently,three per cent seats in each category are reserved for candidates with physical disabilities (PDs).
While there are two more rounds of admissions left,there will be no new seat allocation. We are not filling new seats in the subsequent rounds. Hence,the seats unfilled in the first round could remain so, said S Choudhury,JEE 2011 chairman,IIT-Kanpur.
Over 250 seats were not filled in the first round as no one opted for them. Usually,each year,vacancies remain as no one takes admission in certain courses. In the subsequent (two) rounds this year,these vacant seats may not be filled up. This is because admission will be given against these vacancies only if a student drops out and vacates the seat allotted in round one. But if these vacancies are from ST and PD categories,seats will be transferred to preparatory course. At IIT-Bombay,for instance,there are six vacancies in PD and one in ST, said Avinash Mahajan,vice-chairman,JEE 2011,IIT-Bombay.
Moreover,as many as 368 seats reserved for OBC candidates could not be filled despite giving relaxations and these seats got converted to general category seats.
