After the end of the sixth round of the seat allocation process, around 187 seats in the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) will remain vacant, after the Joint Seat Allocation Authority 2016 (JoSAA) decided not to conduct any special round. Apart from the NITs, around 8 seats are now vacant in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), despite keeping two additional allocation rounds.

Around 185 seats are vacant from the ‘Home State Quota’, while 2 are All India seats. Earlier this month, the allocation board had proposed the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to alter the current allocation process in order to fill the vacant seats.

“The amendment is unlikely to happen for this year’s seat allocation process. The home state quota rule has been made by the cabinet and is unlikely to change unless the cabinet approves it. As of now, there is no provision to share state quota seats to other states,” said an official of the Technical Education department, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The number of vacant seats in NITs and IITs can increase in the coming time, as a number of students have withdrawn their seats after the sixth round. This will be confirmed once the Seat allotment details are updated for JoSAA 2016.

Vacant seats in IITs have been fairly utilized, as these seats are being allotted for preparatory courses to SC/ST/PWD students. “Around 107 seats have been allotted for the preparatory course in various IITs. After successful completion of the one-year course, these students will get a chance to avail of a B.Tech seat in the IITs,” said K V Krishna, JoSAA chairperson.