So far any student wishing to seek admission outside his/her university could only do so only in a private institution and not in the more prestigious government-run engineering colleges. For instance, a student from Satara could not get admission to Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute in Mumbai because it is aided by the government but he could get admission in Terna Engineering College which is entirely a private enterprise.

But now, the amended rules have done away with this distinction. All candidates seeking admission in colleges other than those affiliated to their universities will have the chance to apply government-run, government-aided and university-managed engineering institutes across the state.

As many as 30 per cent of the seats in these colleges have been reservedfor them. Seventy per cent seats are still blocked for students from the University which oversees the degree college from which he/she has secured the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) degree. The Directorate of Technical Education issued a circular intimating colleges of the amended rules today, directing them to implement the modified rules from the academic year commencing June 1998-98.

Of the 104 engineering colleges in Maharashtra, 88 are private. Of the remaining 16, six are government-run, five are government-aided and five are managed by a university.

More changes follow. Earlier, in government colleges, seats were distributed on a pro-rata basis as well, ie, calculated on the basis of 100 per cent consideration for HSC students with a physics-chemistry-maths combination and 50 per cent consideration for HSC students with a physics-chemistry-maths-biology combination (as several from the latter opt for medicine).

The pro-rata rule applied only to conventional courses (civil, mechanical andelectrical engineering). Seats are distributed equally among the universities for non-conventional courses. However, the pro-rata rule now stands abolished, leaving only the 30-70 per cent rule for all courses.

Among the other amendments are: The 10 per cent reservation of seats in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University at Raigarh for four districts in the Konkan area (Thane, Sindhudurg, Raigarh and Ratnagiri) has been increased to 15 per cent. This is the only technological university in the state.

Earlier, under the state merit list, a student was forced to accept the combination awarded from among the three submitted during admission. However, students will now be allowed another chance before the seats are thrown open to students from outside Maharashtra. Also, wards of all central government employees, apart from defences personnel, will now be eligible for admission to any engineering college even if the last qualifying examination (HSC) was taken in another state. Earlier, the HSC degreeshould have been secured from a college within Maharashtra only.