Hyderabad: Telangana is likely to see an increase in BTech seats this year, but education department sources indicated these additional seats may not be included in the first phase of counselling scheduled to begin on July 6.
Officials said the seat count and list of colleges should ideally be finalised before the web options process begins. Last year, 175 colleges offered a total of 1,18,989 seats, covering convenor and B-category quotas.
This time, Palamuru University’s campus and a new engineering college under Satavahana University at Husnabad have received approvals, bringing around 528 new seats, including the EWS quota into play. Besides, nearly 7,000 seats approved by AICTE and cleared for no-objection certificates from JNTU-H last year could not be granted state approval, but college management is again pushing for them.
A few colleges have also sought to increase core branch seats this year, for which they secured AICTE approval, and the government is inclined to permit at least these additions. Separately, proposals to open three off-campus centres have also received a positive signal from the government.
However, officials said the time crunch may prevent the inclusion of these new seats in the first-phase counselling, even though web options can be exercised until the 15th of this month. If necessary, the new seats could be added during the second phase of counselling scheduled for July 26 and 27.
The department expects that at least a few hundred seats could be formally added by then, ensuring availability for candidates before the second phase concludes.
