2,800 CET 2021 students yet to get fee refund: Karnataka Examinations Authority Officials

BENGALURU: While the stage is set for Common Entrance Test (CET) 2022 slated to commence on Thursday, about 2,800 students who had surrendered their seats during CET 2021 are yet to get a refund of the fee they had paid, reports Sruthy Susan Ullas. Several of these students and their parents continue to visit the Karnataka Examinations Authority office in Malleswaram seeking a refund.
CET 2021 candidates who were allotted seats in earlier rounds and got admitted to the same were allowed to surrender the seat on foregoing Rs 5,000 as fine. The fee for general merit students was in the range of Rs 34,000 to Rs 90,000.
Ajay, who is currently studying in Nrupathunga University, Bengaluru, and is the son of a Ballari farmer, said: "I was allotted an engineering seat and I paid the fee. But I decided to not pursue it because of financial constraints. I surrendered my seat in December. KEA told me I would get the refund in one month. It has been six months now and I have already come here five times. I am yet to get my money back."
Adarsh, another student who was at KEA on Wednesday, said he is to get an amount of Rs 78,526, after a mandatory deduction of Rs 5,000. Adarsh got an engineering seat through CET but his ranking was better in ComedK. He said he took a seat through ComedK as he got the course he wanted.
"I had classes on Wednesday. But I'm desperate to get back that money. This is my fifth visit here. I have been told to wait till 4pm. As I am unable to wait for so long, I am returning home," he said. "I took a seat through ComedK. I called the KEA for a refund. They kept giving new dates, but nothing has come," said Aditya, another student.
According to KEA, the refund delay is because of late completion of counselling. As per officials, around 5,000 students had to get the refund. "In the first phase, money was returned to 3,000 students. However, the banks informed us that they could not disburse the money to 800 of these candidates because of issues like incomplete or wrong account details. We have to refund the fee for another 2,000 students in the next phase," said Ramya S, executive director, KEA.
The KEA has decided to publish in a week another link on its website for students to enter their account details again.
"We conducted a mop-up round in March as well. There were upgradation and changes happening till April, when we could finally conclude the counseling process for CET 2021 as NEET counseling also happened then. It was the delay in the completion of the counselling that has resulted in the delay in providing refund," she said.