Executive Director of Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) Ramya S said that they will ensure that students are not penalised if they forgo a private college seat for a seat in a government college, stated a report in The New Indian Express.

With the COMEDK (Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka) counselling process beginning before that of the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET), students are perturbed that they might have to choose expensive private colleges rather than government colleges due to the delay in KCET counselling process.

Various organisations and students had appealed to KEA and the state government to intervene and postpone the COMEDK counselling process till the process for KCET begins. With the appeals in vain, KEA has assured that students will not suffer.

“We will ensure that students do not face any issues if they give up their seats in government colleges. We are also ensuring that the final round of COMEDK counselling will take place only after the KCET counselling process has started,” Ramya said and added that the overlap of students taking on COMEDK who had undertaken the KCET was minor.

“There are two lakh students for KCET from Karnataka and around 25,000 undertaking COMEDK, of which, the focus is mostly from outside Karnataka,” she said.

However, the All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) State Vice-President Apoorva said that this would not resolve the issue. “The solution would be to halt the COMEDK counselling until KCET begins,” she told TNIE.