Karnataka Examinations Authority. Image: KEA / File
Bengaluru: Candidates seeking to surrender seats allotted in the second round of Karnataka UG NEET medical and dental counselling can do so under different penalty conditions, with the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) setting ₹10,000 as the penalty for a category of candidates who want to cancel their second-round seat while retaining the option of participating in the third round.
KEA Executive Director H. Prasanna said candidates who have secured a seat through the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) or through counselling in another state can exit KEA counselling by 5 p.m. on September 20 without paying any penalty.
The ₹10,000 provision applies differently. Candidates who have not secured a seat through MCC counselling but want to cancel the seat allotted to them in KEA’s second round must personally visit the KEA office and pay a penalty of ₹10,000.
Importantly, payment of the ₹10,000 penalty at this stage does not close the counselling process for these candidates. They will be permitted to participate in the third round of seat allotment if they wish to continue seeking a seat.
The penalty becomes substantially higher if a medical or dental candidate waits until later stages of the counselling process to surrender an allotted seat.
A medical candidate cancelling a seat after the deadline for submitting options for the third round, but before the deadline for submitting options for the stray vacancy round, will have to pay a penalty of ₹1.10 lakh.
For dental candidates cancelling during the corresponding period, the penalty will be ₹60,000.
Candidates surrendering their seats during this later window will also lose the opportunity to participate in subsequent rounds of counselling.
The consequences become still more stringent once the deadline for submitting options for the stray vacancy round has passed.
Candidates cancelling a seat after the last date for submitting options for the stray vacancy round, or after completion of the stray vacancy round, will have to pay ₹1.10 lakh as penalty in addition to one year’s course fee.
Such candidates will also be barred from participating in UG counselling for the next three years.
The cancellation framework therefore creates distinct consequences depending on when a candidate exits and whether the candidate has obtained a seat through MCC or another state’s counselling.
For candidates without an MCC allotment who want to give up their KEA second-round seat but remain in contention for Karnataka’s third round, the immediate provision is an in-person cancellation at KEA with the ₹10,000 penalty.
Candidates with an MCC or another-state allotment, meanwhile, have until 5 p.m. on September 20 to exit KEA counselling without a penalty, according to Prasanna.
KEA has advised candidates to carefully refer to the UG NEET information bulletin available on its website for the detailed rules before surrendering an allotted medical or dental seat.
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Atul Chaturvedi 