Despite relaxed criteria, only 88 apply
FARIDKOT : Even after the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, relaxed the eligibility criteria by 10 percentile for each category to fill 498 vacant bachelor of dental surgery (BDS) seats in private dental colleges, only 88 candidates applied in the sixth round of counselling.
The general category percentile was lowered from 50 to 40.This means a general category student will now need a minimum of 113 marks out of 720, instead of 147, in NEET2020. For SC/ST/OBC candidates and persons with disability, this qualifying percentile has been lowered from 40 to 30 and 45 to 35, respectively. Now, SC/ST/ OBC candidates’ cut-off score has been reduced to 87 from 113, while cut-off score for persons with disability candidates has been lowered to 99 from 129.
Of the total 1,140 BDS seats in 15 dental colleges, 498 have remained vacant in private dental colleges after five rounds of counselling. The university had invited fresh applications for vacant seats but found candidates for only 18% vacant seats.
After relaxation in the cut-off score, candidates with NEET score as low as 89 were included in the provisional merit list.
The BFUHS will hold a sixth round of counselling (second extended stray vacancy round) on February 17 (Wednesday), as per extended admission schedule. The physical walk-in round will be held at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot.
In December, the Dental Council of India (DCI) had proposed to the Centre that the percentile for admission to the BDS course should be lowered for each category, but the government declined the suggestion. Private dental colleges, however, approached the Supreme Court arguing that the cut-off percentile was lowered last year also. The apex court, then directed the government to lower the percentile by 10 for each category for this session.
The ministry of health and family welfare had directed Dental Council of India to lower down the NEET percentile and extend the date of admission to BDS course to February 18 for the academic session 2020-21 following the Supreme Court order.