The delay in announcing the Common Entrance Test (CET) results and conducing the counselling may compel many engineering seat aspirants to choose seats through the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) route by paying more.
According to the tentative schedule released by the COMEDK and the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), the first round of seat allotment by COMEDK is scheduled for June 21, while seats through CET route are likely to be announced on June 27. Seats allotted under the COMEDK are nearly three times more expensive than the government and government-quota seats allotted through CET.
Moreover, engineering college managements are pressing for a 10% fee hike this year.
S. Kumar, executive secretary, COMEDK, said they had decided to wait for the KEA to announce its final schedule before announcing the dates for the COMEDK counselling. “But we learnt that they have postponed announcement of the results as well. We have to go ahead with our counselling and complete our allotments and admissions on time. So we will start off the process in the first week of June,” he told The Hindu . Students will, however, be given the option to surrender their seats after the first round.
Meanwhile, this development has led to anxiety among students who are hoping that the KEA expedites its counselling schedule. Manjunath S., an engineering seat aspirant, said, “How can the COMEDK hold its counselling first? The government needs to consider the interests of meritorious students and ensure that they advance the CET counselling.”
A similar situation in 2013 and 2016 had resulted in chaos and anxiety among students.
