Engineering aspirants can now apply through state CET cell for admission under institutional quota
With MHT-CET results out, engineering admissions in Maharashtra are expected to start soon. The Higher and Technical Education Department announced revised rules on Friday.
The government has already declared clear eligibility criteria for NRI candidates—who will occupy 5% of institutional quota seats. Additionally, colleges are already informed about fee-related guidelines for these seats. They charge up to three times the regular fees for management quota seats and five times more for NRI quota seats. All this streamlining is expected to bring greater transparency to engineering admissions, including those under institutional quota.
The notification declaring amendment to the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission to the Full Time Professional Undergraduate, Post Graduate, Integrated or Dual Degree Technical Courses) states, 'in case candidate is unable to submit the application directly to the institution concerned for any reason, the candidate shall have the opportunity to apply through the website of the Competent Authority till the date of allotment of final CAP Round. These applications will be forwarded to the respective institutions after the allotment process of CAP Round-IV. The concerned institution shall consider such applications while preparing the Inter-Se-Merit.'
Traditionally, 80% of engineering seats are filled through CAP, with the remaining 20% filled by colleges under the institutional quota. As per information shared by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), while this process remains unchanged, students now have the CAP portal as an optional route for institutional quota applications.
Director of DTE, Vinod Mohitkar, said, 'There is absolutely no intrusion on admissions done at the institutional level. We are only providing an optional platform for students to apply for those seats. This is only because we would receive random complaints from students that certain institutes are not taking their application of admission under institutional quota. In such cases they will have another option to apply. These applications will be sent to colleges to consider while declaring merit list.'
Another significant change is the introduction of a fourth CAP round, as opposed to established practice of three CAP rounds. This is expected to allow students one additional chance to secure admission through CAP before the institutional round begins. Furthermore, there will be stricter rules for admission confirmation. Previously, confirmation was only mandatory if candidates were allotted their first-choice college. Now, in Round 2, confirmation is required if the allotted college is among the top three choices, and in Round 3, if it is among the top six.
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