FSFTI President Dr Anshu Kataria Urges UGC, AICTE to Extend Admission Deadline to October 30th

While the current admission deadline for UGC and AICTE-regulated courses is August 14, the Pharmacy Council of India has allowed admissions until September 15, 2026.

Dr. Anshu Kataria, President, FSFTI and Punjab Unaided Colleges Association (PUCA), and Chairman, Aryans Group of Colleges, said the admission session has been disrupted by uncertainty surrounding NEET, examination-related controversies, re-examinations, delayed results and prolonged counselling. Many students waited for medical and healthcare counselling before considering engineering, pharmacy, management, allied healthcare and other professional programmes, leaving them with little time to make informed career decisions.

Dr. Kataria said students seeking admission to allied and healthcare programmes have been particularly affected by frequent changes, directions and clarifications under the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) framework. Uncertainty over eligibility, entrance requirements, course nomenclature, sanctioned intake, institutional recognition and the regulatory status of colleges has caused confusion among students, parents and institutions.

Kataria added that delays in Polytechnic results and CBSE Class XII re-evaluation results have also affected students, including those seeking lateral-entry admission in engineering and other technical programmes. ITI examinations have only recently concluded, the results are not expected before 14th August, students aspiring to take admission into Polytechnic through LEET will not be able to complete their admission process within the existing AICTE admission timeline, he mentioned.

Adv. Amit Sharma, Senior Vice President, PUCA, said several NCAHP provisions and norms have neither been implemented uniformly nor communicated clearly. The absence of a fully functional and transparent mechanism has made it difficult for students to identify duly recognized courses and institutions.

Dr. K.V.K. Rao, General Secretary, FSFTI, said floods related disruptions in Assam, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and other states have further affected admissions. Displacement, damaged road and internet connectivity, financial hardship and difficulties in obtaining academic documents have prevented many students from completing counselling, travelling to institutions and finalizing admissions.

PUCA members S. Manjit Singh, S. Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, Ashwani Garg, Ashok Garg, Mohit Mahajan, S. Gurkirat Singh, S. Gurpreet Singh and H.S. Kanda have urged UGC, AICTE, the Ministry of Education and other concerned authorities to extend the deadline to October 30th, 2026, so that deserving students are not deprived of higher education opportunities due to circumstances beyond their control.

It is to be mentioned that on PUCA petitions in Supreme Court, admission deadlines for technical courses were extended to October 30 in 2025, October 23 in 2024 and October 30 in 2023. In 2022, admissions were allowed until October 25 for first-year courses and October 30 for lateral-entry programmes.