Seek conversion of vacant seats into OM
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Oct 7: Aspirants of the Basic Agriculture Training (BAT) and Basic Horticulture Training (BHT) programs continue to run from pillar to post for admissions, alleging that authorities at the SKUAST-K have shown little concern towards their grievances.
The aspirants have been demanding conversion of the remaining vacant reserved category seats into the Open Merit category and for expediting the ongoing counselling process.
They said they have been waiting for months for the completion of admissions and urged the university to ensure that no seat goes to waste this year.
They also demanded an enhancement of at least five seats per district, to be filled strictly on merit.
“Even category candidates agreed during the October 3 counselling session, in the presence of university officials, that the vacant seats be converted to open merit. Last year, the same procedure was followed for BHT admissions,” they added.
According to the aspirants, several seats at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Pulwama and other centres are still lying vacant. “Last year, around 150 students were enrolled at KVK Pulwama, but this year only about 70 have been admitted so far,” they said.
The candidates also appealed to the university to include the Character/ Provisional Certificate in the document verification process to prevent dual admissions.
“Last year, this certificate was mandatory, but it has not been included this year,” they noted.
University officials, meanwhile, said that while the overall intake had already been increased, any further enhancement in open merit seats would require proportional adjustments in other categories.
Earlier, the officials had clarified that after the completion of all counselling rounds, if reserved category seats remain vacant, they can be converted into open merit during the mop-up session.
The aspirants, however, alleged that during the third round of counselling held on October 3, all category seats again remained unfilled as no eligible category candidate was available.
“We, both open merit and category candidates, requested the officials to convert the seats on merit basis. They agreed and assured us of the same. Now we demand an equal share of five seats per district on merit basis, as there are no category candidates left,” the aspirants said.
The BAT and BHT are two-year diploma programs offered by SKUAST-K to produce trained manpower in the agriculture and horticulture sectors.
The admission process for the current academic session began in April 2025.
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