KEA gathers proof of seat blocking

Fears of a seat blocking racket in the ongoing counselling for undergraduate professional courses appear to have been proven right.

At least 35 students who had chosen seats through Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) last month also took admission to the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.
The list of such students was published by the KEA on Saturday. At least two of them — Puttaraja G Havanura (medical rank-9,990) and Vinay N Gangammanavar (50,857th rank) — even collected the admission orders.

While Havanura had chosen a BDS seat at M R Ambedkar Dental College and Hospital, Bangalore, Gangammanavar had taken a BE (Chemical Engineering) seat at Smt Kamala and Sri Venkappa M Agadi College of Engineering and Technology, Lakshmeshwar, Gadag. In all, four students had taken BDS seats, the rest opted for BE seats. Three students were allotted free seats — under the supernumerary quota (SNQ).

The list published by KEA is detailed. It mentions students’ CET number as well as the UAS Application No, leaving no doubt that the same candidates took seats at the two places.

The publication of the list comes almost a week after the KEA Executive Director, Rashmi V Mahesh, wrote letters to registrars of UAS, Dharwad and Bangalore, the Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fisheries Science Universities, Bangalore and Bidar, as well as the National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, for information about KEA students who might have taken admission in their institutions as well.

According to KEA, the number of students who have taken seats outside may swell as other universities have not responded yet. The students will be asked to surrender the seats. They were likely to be penalised, the KEA official added.

What is seat blocking?

It is a clever method said to have been employed by top colleges to block government quota seats. Colleges bribe meritorious but uninterested students to pick CET seats. The students are later asked to keep the seats but not report to the colleges. These seats later go to the respective college’s management quota under which they are sold for a fortune.