Three students have been blocked by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) for allegedly being involved in illegal activities such as forging the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) rank scorecard and trying to get admission at top medical colleges in the State.
In one case, the KEA has also filed a complaint against the accused student at Malleshwaram police station, and an FIR has been booked against her.
SIMS seat
According to the KEA, the accused student got a medical seat at Shivamogga Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) with forged documents, including the KEA admission order and fee-paid receipt.
When the management approached the KEA asking for the seat-allotment details, it was not available in the KEA portal. The KEA realised the fraudulent activity and filed a complaint against her.
“The candidate has got only 140 marks in the NEET, and she was ineligible to get a medical seat. However, the candidate used the NEET rank scorecard and registration number of another student and created fake documents. She submitted a forged NEET scorecard with 480 marks to claim that she was allotted a seat from KEA at SIMS,” says the FIR.
Unable to download
In another case, a student created fake documents and approached the High Court, alleging that KEA had not allotted her a medical seat despite being eligible. KEA officials explained, “When we asked the student to download her NEET rank scorecard on her mobile phone, she was unable to download it in the court. Then, it turned out that she faked the documents and was falsely claiming a medical seat. So the court directed the advocate to withdraw the case.”
On Friday, when Higher and Technical Education Minister M.C. Sudhakar visited KEA to hear the grievances of students and parents, one more student approached him saying that she was allotted a seat in Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) along with an email copy sent in the name of the college.
KEA officials asked her to show the NEET admission ticket and download the NEET rank score on her mobile phone. But she said it was not downloading. Then, the officials downloaded the NEET rank scorecard of the registration number the student claimed as hers and realised that it belonged to another student from North India.
S. Ramya, Executive Director of KEA, said, “Despite poor scores in the NEET, these three students tried to get medical seats using illegal ways. Apart from filing a police complaint, we have decided to block these three students for the future.”
Suspicion of seat blocking
Though the seat allotment for engineering courses for the academic year of 2023-24 has been completed, several engineering seats remain unfilled, even in some top private colleges.
Higher and Technical Education Minister M.C. Sudhakar alleged that this is leading to suspicions of seat blocking.
As per the details provided by the Minister during the media interaction at KEA on Friday, seats in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Bio-Technology, Electrical and Civil Engineering streams have been left vacant even at top colleges.
“At least 60 seats were vacant at some of the top colleges in branches which are in high demand. We are suspicious, but we cannot verify the reasons the candidates give, whether it is genuine or fake, when they cancel or surrender the seats. But the department is observing these things, and to avoid such activities, we plan to extend the counselling to fill all the vacant seats,” he said.
Meanwhile, to avoid mistakes by students while filling out the online application for the Common Entrance Test, the KEA is planning to introduce an app-based application, the minister added.
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