Chennai,  State Higher Education Minister K. Pondmudi has said that Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions Committee 2022 will conduct counselling for general category candidates two days after the results of the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET).

The minister said that this was to prevent general category seats going vacant after students join medical colleges. He said that for the past few years several students who join prestigious engineering colleges, including Anna University, vacate the seats after the results of NEET are published and join medicine. This, he said, leads to seats getting vacant.

While speaking to reporters at Villupuram, Minister Pondmudi said: "We expected the NEET results to be out on August 21 but it has been delayed and last year several students surrendered their engineering seats leading to the seats falling vacant. This has led to the government delaying the counselling process for two days after NEET results are announced."

It may be noted that in the engineering admission process applicants cannot be called for the second round of counselling as more than two lakh students register for engineering admissions annually. The higher education minister's office said that during this academic year 1.58 lakh students are eligible to participate in counselling for admission to various engineering colleges.