Chennai: Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions Committee 2022 will conduct counseling for general category students two days after National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) results, said Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi on Wednesday. The engineering counseling for general category students was slated to begin on August 25.


The state higher education department postponed the engineering counseling to avoid vacant seats if students opt for medical seats after NEET counseling. 


In a press meet at Villupuram, Minister Ponmudi said, several students who joined prestigious engineering colleges including Anna University in the past few years have vacated their seats even to join medicine after NEET results. Hence, the seats for the academic year go vacant without any takers. 


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Therefore, Minister Ponmudi as per IANS 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."


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Meanwhile, the engineering aspirants cannot be called for second round of counseling since more than 2 lakh students apply for engineering seats every year. 


In 2022, out of the students who applied for engineering, over 1.58 lakh students are found to be eligible for participating in counseling for admission to various engineering colleges. Earlier, Minister K Ponmudi released Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) 2022 Rank List on August 16. He said that 133 students got 200 out of 200 cut-off marks.


Earlier, the government also extended the deadline for applying in government arts and science colleges due to delay in Class 12 CBSE public exam results. 


(With IANS inputs)