KEA to bar CET counselling for students already admitted to IITs, top institutes to curb seat-blocking scam
BENGALURU: In an effort to crack down on professional courses seat-blocking scam, the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) announced that students under Karnataka domicile who have already ‘secured’ seats in reputed colleges across the country through National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) or ‘gained admissions’ into premier technical institutes like IITs via the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE), will no longer be allowed to participate in the state’s Common Entrance Test (CET) counselling process.
This decision was taken to prevent the misuse of the counselling system by candidates who block the seat despite committing to other top institutes. The KEA will keep a track of students who achieved top ranks in the CET.
KEA Executive Director H Prasanna told TNIE that the examination body will be requesting institutes like IITs and IIITs among other top institutes to share data of Karnataka-based students who have got admission into these institutes to avoid confusion and seat blocking.
A separate cell will be set up to monitor these candidates. It will be headed by the administrative officer of KEA. “Some toppers, to block the seat, do not join professional courses but rather come for counselling for nursing and allied health
science courses during the first two rounds. These students then without taking the allied science course apply for government quota engineering seats in prestigious private engineering colleges during the final round of counselling, and since these are the toppers, they get the seat in private institutes and they ultimately do not take admission in previously allotted colleges. In such cases, the seat remains vacant and eventually gets converted into a private seat, hence, such candidates will be monitored,” Prasanna added.