Jayalalithaa hikes engineering seats’ sports quota

In a major boost for students excelling in sports in the State, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday ordered an increase of 400 seats to be allotted under the sports quota in engineering admissions. With this order, the total number of seats under this quota will now be 500, up from the 100 seats till last year.

A press release said the decision is part of the continuing efforts initiated by the AIADMK in promoting interest in sports among youngsters. During her tenure in 1992, the Chief Minister had ordered the creation of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu on par with the Sports Authority of India.

In 2002, she had ordered special cash rewards for all sports persons hailing from the State who win medals in national and international events.  The number of seats available for sportspersons in engineering has been increased 5-fold to 500 this year.

Following the announcement of the Chief Minister, officials at the Anna University said 1,300 more candidates would be invited under this category for the counselling, which will now be held on  July 9 and 10. There will be no change to the original schedule of the vocational and academic general counselling.

“We had invited about 600 students for the sports quota and certificate verification is under process. With the announcement of the CM, we are now planning to call 1,300 more students for the counselling under this category,” an official said.

The constituent colleges of Anna University, the official said, is likely to have 12 seats under the quota, whereas the rest of the 488 will apply to other colleges in the single-window counselling pool.

“The admissions will be done according to the rank list. A student can choose any of the college and course as per his preference subject to availability,” the official said. The dates for certificate verification has been extended to July 6 and the rank list will be published the same day.