MUMBAI, Oct. 28 -- Parents and students across Maharashtra have raised serious concerns about the ongoing admission process for medical and health science courses after the delay in declaring the MBBS Common Admission Process (CAP) Round 3 results. The delay, they said, had created confusion and done potential injustice to hundreds of students aspiring to medical seats. The issue at hand is that the State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell announced the CAP Round 3 results for the AYUSH courses (BAMS, BHMS, and BUMS) on October 25 even before the MBBS and BDS results were released. The state is required to complete the AYUSH admissions before the next two rounds begin on October 31. Existing rules mandate that candidates allotted a seat in CAP Round 3 for the AYUSH courses are not allowed to participate in the two subsequent rounds, regardless of whether they accept the allotted seat or not. A notice issued on October 17 by the Commissioner and Competent Authority of the State CET Cell specifies this. And it is this rule that is set to play havoc with students, said parents. Parents have alleged that the sequencing of results this year has put several students at a disadvantage. They point out that many students who have secured BAMS seats in Round 3 are likely to get admission into the MBBS course once the delayed results are announced. However, because the BAMS Round 3 results were declared earlier, the seats vacated by such students will not be available to higher-ranking candidates due to the existing admission rules. Also, those higher-ranking students who skip the seat and then fail to secure a seat in the MBBS and BDS course will miss out everywhere. One parent, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "The delay is not the fault of the students, and yet they are the ones facing injustice." The parent demanded that the State CET Cell reschedule the BAMS admission round to ensure fairness. Sudha Shenoy, a parent and education activist, said that the situation was "unprecedented", as the MBBS results are traditionally declared before AYUSH courses like BAMS and paramedical courses. "The current schedule is impacting medical admissions this year," she said. "Apart from this, the CET current schedule is before the declaration of the Medical Counselling Committee round result, which is also not as per the rule." Currently, 139 MBBS seats in government colleges and 303 seats in private colleges under the state quota remain vacant. In addition, 297 MBBS seats under the institutional quota are still unfilled. Responding to the controversy, the State CET Cell issued a clarification, stating that the admission rounds were conducted as per the schedules provided by the respective Central Councils for each course. The CET Cell emphasised that it was mandatory to adhere to these timelines and upload admission lists to the council's official portal. The officials also pointed out that the rule that renders students ineligible for further rounds after Round 3 is not new but has been in place for several years. They added that since the Central Councils for MBBS/BDS and AYUSH courses operate independently, their schedules differ....