The state's technology university will make “half/full” refund of the examination fee to “deserving” graduating students, following a demand for a rollback on the ground that the exams have been cancelled because of the Covid pandemic.

Partha Pratim Lahiri, the registrar of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT), issued a notice on Sunday that said: “The university has decided to refund the half/full amount of the examination fee to the deserving students based on the applications addressed to the university and submitted to the college authority concerned….”

All private engineering and management colleges in Bengal are affiliated to the university.

The graduating students of the university had cited financial hardships they and their families had faced during the lockdown while demanding a rollback of the exam fees.

The university formed a committee a fortnight ago to consider the students’ demand. The decision on refund was taken based on the committee’s recommendation.

Officials said around 70 per cent of the final-semester students had paid Rs 1,200 each as examination fee last month.

The application for refund has to be submitted along with copies of documents such as current income certificate of the parents/family and a copy of the first page of the passbook, an official said.

A member of the committee that recommended the rollback said the income of parents of many students took a hit over the past few months. “Even saving Rs 1,200 will be of great help. We want to ensure that the refund reaches the deserving candidates,” he said.

This year, the university will assess its 40,000-odd graduating students on the basis of internal assessment, assignment evaluation and attendance, following a government advisory issued on June 27.