Bhubaneswar, Aug. 19: The dates for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) spot counselling have been deferred by a week.

The spot counselling will now be held on August 28 and 29 instead of August 21 and 22, as notified in the JEE website. The venues - Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla and College of Engineering and Technology (CET), Bhubaneswar - have not been changed.

Deba Tripathy, chairman, JEE council said: “We received several requests from the students and the association to postpone the counselling by a week. Students need time to prepare all the documents and go to far-off colleges after the results are declared. That is why we have changed the dates.”

The counselling would also be open for students who are expecting good ranks in medical science, engineering, MBA, MCA and pharmacy. Also, students who have missed the earlier spot admissions, missed or withdrawn registration can utilise this opportunity to register their names, furnish documents and lock their choices in these two days.

However, candidates who have secured allotment in the first and second rounds of counselling will not be given a chance. The second round of allotment of seats for the MBA course ended yesterday.

The aim of the counselling is to fill vacancies in various departments as decided by the state government’s policy planning board (PPB) on August 9.

The PPB first met on July 28 following the steep fall in registrations this year and decided to go for a two-day spot admission on July 30 and 31. The Orissa Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) had demanded more counselling following allegations of tampering of best option registered by students.

About 16,904 candidates were offered admissions while at least 19,000 seats are still lying vacant.

However, admission process was extended by another day as JEE failed to get sufficient number of registrations. JEE authorities saw an addition of a meagre 763 registrations.