Bhubaneswar, June 28: The state government will conduct centralised manual counselling, instead of e-counselling for four courses under the Orissa Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE)-2011 to speed up the admission process.

This centralised system of counselling would include candidates applying for MBBS and BDS (under medical stream) and lateral entry into pharmacy and architecture.

“These four courses either have less number of seats or applicants. E-counselling would take more time, at least 10 to 12 days. With centralised manual counselling, the admission process would get over in two days,” said Sitaram Mohapatra, vice-chairman of OJEE committee.

OJEE authorities said under the medical stream, nearly 2,200 candidates had qualified for admission against around 500 seats for MBBS and 117 for BDS. In lateral entry for pharmacy and architecture, the number of seats is 86 and 60, respectively.

For the centralised counselling, only one centre would be set up in Bhubaneswar. “It would be conducted from July 15 to 18. We are in the process of finalising the venue,” Mohapatra said.

In another notice, the authorities have said candidates who qualified the All India Engineering Entrance Examination and All India Pre Medical Test can register their names on www.odishajee.com for taking part in the OJEE admission process. The last date for registration on the website has been extended from June 30 to July 7.

Candidates belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes would be given a second chance for admission if seats reserved for the two categories fall vacant after the first round of counselling. In case the vacancies persist, the remaining seats would subsequently be transferred to students of general category.

The e-counselling process is slated to begin on the auspicious occasion of rath yatra on July 3. For this purpose, 18 centres at 11 places – Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Baripada, Saranga, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Berhampur, Jeypore, Bhawanipatna and Keonjhar – would be set up.

The centres, to function as helpline units for the first three days to guide students and guardians regarding the e-counselling process, would be kept open from 9 am to 5 pm.

After this, a verification process would go on for 15 to 20 days where candidates will have to furnish only the photocopies of relevant documents.