Bengaluru: When her son secured a physiotherapy seat at a college in Mangaluru, Gita, a homemaker from Udupi, was overjoyed. After the second round of counselling, she took him for admission, only to discover the college did not exist at the listed location.“There was a nursing college there. They said the pharma college was 40km away. It was a rural area and there were no bus services. We’d have to take an auto for Rs 300 from the nearest point. We were so worried, we travelled to the KEA (Karnataka Examinations Authority) office in Malleswaram to seek help,” Gita said.KEA has been flooded with complaints about colleges with fake addresses, with several cases coming to light when students visited the listed locations for admission.Neha, a Bengaluru student allotted a college on Richmond Road in the second round, went to submit her documents, pay fees and join immediately. On Aug 26, she found no college at the location.“There was a hospital at that location. They told me the college closed down two years ago. We went to KEA. They said the fault was Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS). When we contacted RGUHS, they said it was KEA’s fault. So we went back to KEA. KEA said they would allow me to cancel this seat and make a new option entry. However, they have still not opened up that provision for me. I’m worried,” Neha said.Similar cases have been reported in engineering. “A college that said its campus was in BEL Circle is actually in Peenya. Several students have come to us with complaints,” said a KEA official.The authority said it is helpless as the list of colleges comes from the respective departments. “It is up to the respective universities and departments to send their local inspection committees and give approval for these colleges. We receive the final list from the higher education and medical education departments and publish it as is,” said H Prasanna, executive director of KEA. “Several such cases have come to our notice. We’ll now give a chance for these students to apply to another college,” he added.KEA is sending notices to the higher and medical education departments regarding the changes. “The last date for candidates allotted seats in the second round to report to college is Aug 31. The change of college address without obtaining govt permission has caused confusion among candidates. Therefore, it is requested to immediately issue appropriate directions to the college concerned in this regard,” KEA stated in its letters.“Last year, I compared the data of colleges with 2024. Several colleges had changed their address and name, while their codes remained the same. Many of them are fake addresses. It is scary that the universities are not taking the issue seriously and allowing fake colleges to thrive. They are putting students’ future in danger,” said Mitesh Kumar Moodukonaje, founder, National PU Students, Parents and Teachers’ Association.
