Documents of students who got medical seats under NRI quota to be verified by embassies

KEA sends 320 students' documents to embassies for NRI quota cross-verification amid concerns of misuse.

For the first time, the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) has decided to send the details and documents of 320 students who secured postgraduate medical seats under the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota to the respective embassies for cross-verification.

This decision comes after KEA discovered irregularities involving 21 students who secured postgraduate medical seats under the management quota in the All India Quota (AIQ) while also securing seats under NRI in the State quota. This has raised concerns about the potential misuse of the NRI quota.

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) and KEA are conducting simultaneous counselling for PG NEET 2024 this year. While the MCC is responsible for filling 50% of the AIQ seats, KEA handles the State quota. Of the 6,228 postgraduate medical seats available in Karnataka this year, 2,428 are AIQ seats, 1,822 are State quota seats, 1,266 fall under the private quota, 430 under the NRI quota, and 282 under the management quota.

After the announcement of the final list following the first counselling round, KEA identified 21 students who applied for and secured management quota seats under AIQ while also obtaining NRI quota seats in the State quota. This has raised suspicions that some students may have submitted fraudulent NRI certificates to gain admission. During the counselling process, KEA had already rejected 14 applications with fake NRI certificates.

“If these 21 students are genuinely eligible for NRI quota seats, why did they apply for management quota seats under AIQ seats, is a pertinent question. Ideally, they should have applied under the NRI quota even in AIQ seats as well,” said Prasanna H., Executive Director, KEA, adding that this has raised several suspicions, especially given that KEA has already come across a few students using fake NRI certificates.

“Only children of NRIs or direct blood relatives of NRIs are allowed to apply for NRI quota seats. This year, during the verification of documents, we have rejected 14 applications that submitted fake NRI certificates,” he said, adding that now that all documents of 320 students who have secured seats under the NRI quota will be cross-verified by the respective embassies, suitable action will be taken, if any irregularities are found.