Careers360 Logo
ask-icon
share
    Smriti Irani directs JoSAA to refund fees to candidates who wish to surrender seats, fill vacant seats

    Smriti Irani directs JoSAA to refund fees to candidates who wish to surrender seats, fill vacant seats

    Ashish JhaUpdated on 06 Aug 2015, 03:01 PM IST



    HRD Minister Smriti Irani has asked Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA), which conducted counselling sessions for admissions to IITs, NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs to refund seat acceptance fee to those candidates who either wish to withdraw admissions or surrender their allotted seats.

    Smriti Irani directs JoSAA to refund fees to candidates who wish to surrender seats, fill vacant seats
    HRD Minister Smriti Irani orders JoSAA to refund fee to candidates who wish to surrender seats

    The HRD Minister also directed the authorities to find ways to fill more than 3000 vacant IIT/NIT/IIIT/GFTI seats that was to be filled under JoSAA, according to media reports.

    In a meeting held on Tuesday, August 5, attended by HRD Minister along with the top ministry officials and JoSAA authorities, Ms Irani also questioned the JoSAA authorities on deviating from the court orders and HRD ministry guidelines on ‘Fee Refund’ and other aspects of admission policy that includes maintaining a long waiting list in case seats remain unfilled.

    Careers360 had also been running a campaign on “Why IIT, NIT, IIIT, GFTI seats are blocked despite candidates wishing to back out? Why our system is allowing possibilities of many seats at IITs, NITs, IIITs and GFTIs going vacant this year again?” Hundreds of JoSAA candidates and parents have participated in the campaign and wrote letters to HRD Ministry and JoSAA authorities to introduce fee refund and seat surrender option along with a spot round of counseling. We also questioned why JoSAA officials are more interested in filling the seats of private institutes rather than their own, which are vacant.

    Careers360 had earlier reported that over 3000 seats allotted under JoSAA lay vacant at IITs, NITs, IIITs and GFTIs, indicating to a major process flaw in JoSAA business rules that had been shrouded in controversy ever since the joint seat allocation process began for the premier engineering colleges in the first week of July, 2015.

    The JoSAA authorities had gone mute on seat surrender options for candidates, who dumped a JoSAA seat for a better opportunity elsewhere. Besides this, such candidates, who did not wish to join a seat accepted under JoSAA 2015, were bound to lose their seat acceptance fee of Rs. 45,000. There are many other Loopholes in JoSAA which includes an absence of spot round to fill the vacant seats.

    What does HRD Ministry policy say on 'fee refund'?

    According to HRD policy on admissions into academic institutions, institutes are required to refund entire fee, after deduction a processing fee of not more than Rs. 1000, if a candidate wish to withdraw admission before the last date of admission. Also, the HRD Policy directs that “should a student leave after joining the course and consequently the seat falling vacant has been filled by another candidate by the last date of admission, the institution must return the fee collected with proportionate deduction of monthly fee and proportionate hostel rent, where applicable.”


    Also, the ministry directives to education institutions also mandate them to maintain a long waiting list for admission so that they can fill the vacant seats before the academic session begins.

    Stay tuned to engineering.careers360.com for more news and updates on Engineering admissions.

    Articles
    |
    Certifications By Top Providers
    Data Analytics with Python
    Via Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
    Basic Programming using Python
    Via Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
    Biomedical Nanotechnology
    Via Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
    Online MCA
    Via Dayananda Sagar University, Bangalore
    Material Science
    Via Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
    Biomechanics of Joints and Orthopaedic Implants
    Via Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
    Explore Top Universities Across Globe

    Questions related to JEE Advanced

    On Question asked by student community

    Have a question related to JEE Advanced ?

    Hello Aspirant,

    Admission to the IIT Preparatory Course depends on several factors such as category-wise seat availability, number of candidates opting for the preparatory programme and counselling trends for the particular year. With an SC Preparatory Rank of 4721, securing a seat may be difficult in highly preferred IITs, but

    Hello JEE Aspirant,

    Yes, IISER admissions can be offered through the JEE advanced channel, provided you meet the eligibility criteria and have a valid JEE advanced rank. Through this route student are generally considered for the BS-MS dual degree programmes offered by various IISERs.

    The available subject may include physics,

    Hello Aspirant,

    If you were unable to download your JEE Advanced scorecard earlier, first visit the official JEE Advanced website and check whether the result portal is still accessible through your login credentials.

    If the scorecard download option is no longer available, immediately contact the JEE Advanced helpdesk and explain

    Hey there

    If you are preparing for JEE Advanced 2028 and want a good all-in-one book, some popular options are:

    • Disha Errorless 49 Years JEE Advanced & 25 Years JEE Main PYQ Series – Useful for chapter-wise previous year questions and detailed solutions.

    • MTG 48 Years JEE Advanced PYQ Series

    Hello, admission to a preparatory course in IITs depends on factors such as your category rank, seat availability, and the counselling process. The final allotment is done through the official JoSAA counselling process.

    For more information, check here: JEE Advanced Cutoff 2026