Bengaluru, (DHNS): Many parents have cried foul at the mop-up round that concluded on Monday to fill vacant MBBS and BDS seats.

Students who had already been allotted medical seats in the second round were not allowed to take part in this round. But those who were allotted dental seats were allowed to try for medical seats. Parents of medical aspirants were upset that seats in better colleges were being given to students with lower ranks.

“My daughter got an all-India rank of around 78,000 but she could not get a seat in MS Ramaiah Medical College. She got admission in a different college in the city but we would have preferred MS Ramaiah. Now they are giving away these seats to students having ranks beyond one lakh. How fair is it to meritorious students?” the parent asked.

A total of 757 medical and 683 dental seats were available for allotment in the mop-up round.

“If there were only a handful of seats left for the mop-up round, it would have been okay. But here, over 1,000 seats were left. They should have conducted a third round,” another parent said.

The parents also demanded why the round was being conducted offline. “They could have made a facility to conduct it online, as they did the other rounds. There is so much chaos here. It’s difficult to even enter the gate,” a third parent said.

The Department of Medical Education clarified that it was just following the rules. “It’s a policy decision of the Central government that whoever has already been allotted seats cannot take part in the mop-up round. We are just following that. Further, there is a Supreme Court ruling that says there can only be two rounds after which only a mop-up round can be conducted,” Dr S Sachidananda, director, medical education, explained.

Some parents are now considering legal remedies and may approach the high court.