PUNE: An aspirant from Udaipur for architecture course in a city college reached Pune at 7 am on Friday for document verification, only to find the centre shut. He is not the only one. Around 4 lakh students from the State and thousands from outside suffered due to technical glitches.
On Friday morning, the State CET Cell issued a notice that the admission process for Engineering, Pharmacy, Architecture and Hotel Management and Catering Technology has been delayed and is likely to start from Monday, June 24.
Earlier, the last date for verification process was June 21. That is why the aspirant from Udaipur was here. On reaching his counselling centre at Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s College of Engineering as assigned by Setu Kendra, he found the centre premises deserted.
The college staffers said the admission process has been stalled due to a technical error on SAAR portal, the admission portal of Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) cell for professional courses.
“I left home on Thursday via bus because trains are not available on all days. We weren’t informed about this delay. When I reached here, I was told the admission process has been cancelled and will start next week. The college notice board also had a notification. There was no Setu Kendra executive available for guidance,” said the candidate on condition of anonymity.
He secured 114 marks out of 200 marks in National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) April examination and scored 82 per cent in Std XII Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE).
“According to my score, I am eligible for admission in a Maharashtra college. MH-CET is not applicable for us, our NATA score is considered,” he told Sakal Times.
City-based students complained that due to server issues, the form filling was slow. “I had to visit the help centre thrice due to problems. The form was difficult. It asked for too many documents for example to prove birth date, it required birth certificate and Aadhaar card details,” said an engineering aspirant on condition of anonymity. “The option to fill joint entrance exam (JEE) marks was added later and we had to fill the form again,” said the student.
After getting complaints from students, the State CET Cell decided to redo the entire admission process.
On Thursday evening, the State CET Cell issued a notice that the server went down because of heavy traffic on the SAAR portal. Applicants complained that due to technical glitches, information uploaded got wrongly compiled online.
To avoid errors, the Admission Regulation Authority (ARA) stated that a fresh admission process will be conducted Admission fees if already paid, while filling forms will be adjusted in the new process.
NEW PROCESS LIKELY FROM MONDAY
The registration for admission to professional technical undergraduate courses in Engineering, Pharmacy, Architecture and Hotel Management and Catering Technology for the academic year 2019-20 through SAAR portal has been cancelled. The revised schedule will be notified shortly. The process is likely to start from Monday, June 24, stated Manik Gursal, Commissioner and Competent Authority of State CET Cell.
