“If the government had to finally withdraw the PGCET, why did they call for applications in the first place?”

“We had paid Rs 400 for the application form and also started preparing for the test. What happens to our money now?”

These were some of the reactions of students and parents who called Deccan Herald soon after they heard that the government had decided to scrap the PGCET.

Mr Gururaj, a parent and resident of Davangere said his son had already started preparing for the test and was keen to secure a microbiology seat in Bangalore University. “His hopes have now been shattered. Why did the government announce the PGCET,” he questioned.

Prakash, a student from Bangalore said he had applied for two tests by paying Rs 800 as application fee. “They made us go through the ordeal of getting the application forms, the DDs and submitting it back to the university for nothing,” he rues.

Bangalore University had sold 6,000 application forms alone and 30,000 students had applied for the tests in 11 PG courses scheduled to be conducted by Mysore University.  The entrance tests were scheduled to be conducted between July 20 and 22 at 17 centres across the state.

The Inter-University Board had decided that under PGCET, 40 per cent of the seats of any university would be reserved for graduate students of the same university, 55 per cent would be for the students from all over Karnataka and remaining 5 per cent would be kept reserved for students from all over the country.

Due to the scrapping of PGCET, all universities will have to conduct the admission process for the 11 courses on their own by starting afresh right from issue of application forms.

BU Vice-Chancellor H A Ranganath said the university will soon issue a notification for admission process for all PG courses soon.

Mysore: Mysore University Registrar (Evaluation) A B Ibrahim said possibilities of the academic year getting affected are too remote. Entrance exam can be postponed and held in time to admit students, he added. “As far as the money is concerned, we will abide by the government order and we have not received any communication yet,” he said.

Mangalore: Mangalore University will conduct its own on-campus entrance tests for admitting students into its PG courses for the present academic year, said Vice-Chancellor Prof K M Kaveriappa.
He said the varsity has called for fresh applications. As per directions from the Registrar, we will retain the DDs collected from students for application forms.
Modalities of returning DDs will have to be worked out in consultation with the government, he said.