BENGALURU: The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), which conducted a mop-up round of seat allotment for undergraduate medical courses on Thursday, managed to get rid of some touts, accompanied by students, who were looking to block seats. During the counselling, it came to the notice of the authorities that there were middlemen posing as parents of candidates. Following this, the KEA authorities called in the police.
Speaking about it, KEA executive director Vinoth Priya said, “We were told about the involvement of middlemen who were using students who have got seats under all-India quota to block seats here. We took the help of police and send them out.”
Upon realising that there were middlemen to the premises, several seat aspirants protested alleging that some of the candidates were involved in blocking of seats. Following the protest, the KEA executive director and the administrative officer themselves verified the documents of candidates in the presence of police. As many 958 medical seats were available in the mop-up round and the allotment will continue even on Friday.
One of the main reasons why middlemen are active at KEA is because it does not have details of medical seat allotments done by counselling agencies in other states. “There is no centralised database where we can get details of students who got seats in other states. However, we have the list of candidates who got seats under all-India quota and barred them from attending the mop-up round,” said a KEA official said.
Students said the authorities should seriously look into the menace of seat blocking. A student from West Bengal said that many students with high ranks were appearing for counselling. “When candidates with ranks up to 5,000 are eligible for government seats, why would they opt for private seats,” she questioned.
Students even alleged that seat blocking happens every year in collusion with college managements. “The touts who were here today are nothing but agents of private medical colleges. Counseling agencies of the concerned states should collect original documents of the candidates once they confirm the seat to avoid blocking of seats in another state,” said another student from Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Vinoth Priya said they had tightened measures this year to avoid seat blocking. “Only one guardian along with the candidate is given entry pass for counselling,” she said. She also added that the photos of the candidates and the guardian had to be uploaded prior to the counselling. Despite that, there were some people who had accompanied candidates and when we informed police, they ran away,” she said.
Misleading bills
There were some bills stuck on the KEA compound wall misleading students that they can mutually exchange seats. KEA officials clarified that there is no such option and termed it as the handiwork of miscreants. If necessary, a police complaint will be filed against such people, they said.