MUMBAI, July 11 -- The state government has urged the Indian Nursing Council (INC) to make students with zero percentile in the Nursing CET eligible for admission to the BSc nursing course from 2026-27. The move aims to fill thousands of vacant seats in private nursing colleges and increase the number of trained nurses in the state's healthcare system. The medical education department's letter seeking relaxation of the minimum qualifying percentile was sent to the INC secretary in June, but has received no response so far. The government wants a decision before the admission process begins so that more students can participate from the very first round. Until now, students needed at least 50 percentile in the nursing CET to qualify. Last year, when only 14,479 of the 43,191 candidates were eligible because of the minimum percentile rule and 28,112 students were declared ineligible after three rounds of admission, the state requested the INC to permit zero-percentile students to be admitted at the final stage. However, because the INC did not reply, students secured admission to other courses. The government believes that many of these students could have filled vacant nursing seats. The state has also pointed out that admissions to engineering and pharmacy courses through MHT-CET do not have a minimum qualifying percentile. Similarly, several undergraduate health science courses based on NEET-UG do not follow such restrictions. Officials have argued that keeping a 50 percentile cut-off only for nursing prevents many capable students from entering the profession. Balasaheb Pawar, president of the Private Nursing Schools and College Management Association, said, "Despite the state having nearly 17,000 BSc nursing seats in over 270 colleges, over 5,000 seats are vacant. This is more than 30% of the total capacity, and it is a serious concern at a time when the demand for trained nurses is so high. If the INC is not permitting the relaxation of admission criteria, the government must amend the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions Act, 2015, and carry out nursing admissions based on Class 12 marks like Goa, Punjab, and other states have." Last year, the state had 294 nursing colleges, including 17 government and local body colleges and 277 private institutions, offering a total of 16,530 seats. While almost all 1,180 seats in government colleges were filled, only 9,783 of the 15,350 seats in private colleges were occupied. The state government has also requested the INC to permit students who appeared for other Maharashtra CET examinations with physics, chemistry and biology to apply for BSc nursing admissions after nursing CET candidates were accommodated....