Some question marks as COMED-K counselling starts

By Saumyangi Yadav


The Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) has decided to start the process of counselling and document verification soon. However, the students are in a state of confusion as the results of the Karnataka Com on Entrance Test (KCET) are not out yet.

“COMED-K and KCET should coordinate before releasing the schedule for counselling. KCET results are not out yet. If someone is getting a government seat, why would they sit for COMED-K counselling?” said Sharanu H, a student.

COMED-K counselling requires the students to pay Rs 2,000 as a non-refundable registration fee. Apart from that, if any student wishes to cancel their seat, the entire tuition fee will be refunded, according to S Kumar, Executive Secretary, COMEDK.

However, there is a specific ‘surrender period’ after which if the student decides to leave the seat, they will have to forfeit their entire tuition fee. “COMED-K has never exploited the students and will not do so in the future. If a student wants to give up their seat when they get a seat in a government college, 100 per cent tuition fee will be refunded… There is a nominal registration fee for the counselling process,” Kumar said.

Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), on the other hand, has announced that the KCET 2022 results will be announced only after CBSE Class 12 Term 2 and ICSE results are declared. “COMED-K does not take CBSE or any other boards’ marks into consideration for admissions. The students just need to score certain marks to be qualified for the counselling but the colleges are allotted on the basis of the score in the COMED-K examination only,” the executive secretary added.

He also added that though COMED-K is beginning the process earlier, they would not close it anytime soon. “We are aware that students from CBSE board also need to be accommodated. So, the counselling process will continue till their results are out.”

Currently, on the official COMED-K website, the last date to register for the counselling process is August 12. However, as per the official note released by the authorities, the actual counselling dates would be confirmed once the seats and the fee structure is decided between the government and the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association (KUPECA), besides the announcement of CBSE results.