KEA to bar candidates who get seats in prestigious medical and technical institutions from CET counselling

KEA bars Karnataka domicile students from CET counselling to prevent engineering seat blocking scam in prestigious institutions.

In a move aimed at curbing the engineering seat blocking scam, the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) has decided to bar Karnataka domicile students who have secured seats in prestigious medical institutions under the national quota through National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) or got admission in technical institutes including IITs through the Join Entrance Examination (JEE) from taking Common Entrance Test (CET-2025) counselling.

In addition, it has decided to keep a watch on those who, after getting good ranks in the CET, try to get admission in other allied health sciences courses, including nursing, in the first two rounds of counselling and then try to get government quota engineering seats in prestigious private engineering colleges during the final round of counselling.

“A separate cell will be set up headed by the administrative officer of KEA to monitor Karnataka domicile candidates who secure engineering seats in IITs, NITK-Suratkal and IISc-Bangalore and others through JEE (Mains and Advanced) ranks and securing 15% national quota seats in the National Medical Institutes through NEET ranking,” said H. Prasanna, Executive Director of KEA.

The alleged engineering seat blocking scam of 2024-25 had created a stir in the State. Some had misused the Internet Protocol addresses of students and blocked engineering seats in prestigious private colleges.

Investigations found that the IP addresses of about 2,350 students who had appeared in the CET exam were misused to block engineering seats. Most of these IP addresses belonged to students who had secured good ranks in the JEE and got admissions in prestigious institutions. Police inquries are still on.

“Investigations revealed that colleges themselves set up help desks to submit the CET application. They were handling the IP addresses, login IDs and passwords of students. However, parents told us that after getting seats in national institutions, the students did not actually participate in CET counselling,” he said.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) fills 15% of national quota medical seats in AIIMS, JIPMER and other national medical institutions through top ranks in the NEET exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Then, the remaining 85% seats are given to the States.