The Odisha government on Wednesday issued a notification for reservation of 15 per cent seats in medical and engineering colleges for government high school students.

The decision follows an announcement made earlier by the government and cabinet approval for the reservation of seats.

The notification issued by the skill development and technical education department said that as the government high school students are in a disadvantageous position compared to their counterparts in private schools while appearing in entrance examinations like the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), the state government had constituted a high-powered committee on January 8 under the chairmanship of Justice A.K. Mishra, a retired judge of Orissa High Court, to make necessary recommendations regarding reservation of seats for them in engineering and medical courses in Odisha.

Acting on the committee’s recommendations, the government has directed that 15 per cent seats in medical and engineering colleges of the state shall be reserved for students who have passed the Class X examination under the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha, and also passed the Class XII examination under the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE), from any Odisha government higher secondary school/government junior college. Such reservations shall be horizontal covering all vertical reservations as well as the unreserved group, the notification added.

The notification further said government high school includes the aided high schools, higher secondary schools and junior colleges of the state as defined in the Odisha Education Act, 1969. Medical courses in relation to a medical college include MBBS and other courses, while the engineering courses in relation to an engineering college include BTech, BE and BArch, it added.

It further said that the eligible students shall also be entitled to compete for the unreserved seats and in case, adequate number of such eligible students are not available for seats so set apart, such unfilled seats shall be filled up by the other students of respective categories.