The state’s technology university will make "half/full’’ refund of the examination fee to “deserving’’ students in the intermediate semesters, following a demand for a waiver on the ground that they are facing financial constraints because of the Covid pandemic, said an official.

Partha Pratim Lahiri, the registrar of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT), issued a notice on Friday that said: "Based on the requests received and as has been recommended by the competent authority, I am to notify that the university has decided to refund the half/full amount of the ongoing interim semester examination fees to the deserving students based on the applications….”

Subhasis Dutta, the university’s controller of examinations, said: “All will have to pay the fees and then they will get a refund based on the recommendation through a due process.”

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

The students who are in the second, fourth and sixth semesters, whose exams are on, had demanded a waiver of the exam fee (Rs 1,200 in each semester) citing financial hardships they had been facing amid the pandemic.

The state has around 200 private engineering and management colleges and close to a lakh students are in the intermediate semesters at those institutes.

An official of the university said many students had told colleges that earning members in their families had their salaries slashed during the lockdown. Some have said their family members have lost jobs.

The Telegraph had on August 20 reported that an estimated 1.89 crore salaried people lost their jobs between April and July in the country. July had registered massive job losses after a partial recovery in June.

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy has estimated that close to 1.77 crore salaried people lost their jobs in April.

The notice says that the application for waiver has to be made in the prescribed format and submitted along with copies of documents such as registration certificate, admit card of the intermediate semester, current income certificate of the parents/family (obtained from local government officials) and the first page of the passbook (for account details to reimburse the fee).

Filled-in application forms, primarily scrutinised and endorsed by the respective colleges, should reach the university by November 10, said another official.

The students will be assessed based on internal assessment and assignment. Of the four internal assessments, two were pen-and-paper tests held before the pandemic. The remaining two were held online.

Assessment through assignments will be held this month and it will be online.

Controller of examinations Dutta said the students would have to pay the fees for now because the university had a mechanism that entailed that if a student did not pay the examination fee, the admit card would not be generated.

“A high-power committee will review the application for the waiver. Based on the report, deserving candidates will be given half/full refund of the examination fee,” registrar Lahiri said.

In July, the university had made half/full refund of the examination fee to deserving graduating students, following a demand for a rollback on the ground that the exams had been cancelled because of the pandemic.