Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar today informed the Legislative Assembly that 9048 students had applied for counseling under PM's Special Scholarship Scheme during 2016-17, against which 7753 were called and 3818 seats were allotted. Out of these 2208 students reported outside the State and scholarships have been released in favor of 1540 students so far.As regards fresh counseling of students, the Minister said that the Counseling for 2016-17 cannot be extended now in view of deadline of 30th September 2016 fixed by the Supreme Court for the admissions in case of Jammu and Kashmir. However, the fresh counseling has been proposed from 22 February 2017 by the AICTE at Srinagar, he added.The Minister was replying to a Question by Gulzar Ahmed Wani.