The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has expressed disapproval on reducing the fee for various recruitment exams in view of the increasing expenditure and various examination reforms, including webcasting and implementation of other technologies.
As the government does not provide any grant to KEA for conducting recruitment examinations, the KEA has clarified to the government that it has to bear all the expenses from the fees paid by candidates taking competitive examinations.
Priyank Kharge, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, had submitted a proposal to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah regarding various examination reforms, including completion of all government recruitment processes within one year and introducing computer-based test (CBT) to prevent irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), KEA and other recruitment agencies.
In addition, Mr. Kharge had mentioned that the fees for all recruitment examinations conducted by KEA are higher compared to other recruitment agencies, and this is causing financial burden to candidates.
However, the KEA has disagreed with these recommendations and submitted its clarifications to the government.
“Vacancies in various government departments, corporations and boards, including gazetted probationary posts, are being filled by KPSC. The government is providing a separate grant to KPSC. The KEA conducts CET for admission to various professional courses, including engineering, and fills seats through counselling. Due to many irregularities in the recruitment examinations conducted by KPSC and other allegations, including corruption and delay in recruitment, the State Government has given the responsibility of filling vacant posts in various departments, corporations and boards to KEA from the year 2020-21. Carrying out this responsibility efficiently, KEA has filled thousands of posts through competitive examination in the last four years. Due to the strict examination procedures, quick declaration of results and filling up of posts, various departments are requesting KEA to fill up of posts in large numbers,” it has stated.
“The authority does not get any grant from the government. The functioning of the authority is managed by the amount collected through examination application fees. The application fee fixed by the KEA has not been revised for many years. For the conduct of the examinations, the authority is paying the expenses of various departments and examination centres from these funds. We don’t have any other source of funds,” said H. Prasanna, Executive Director of KEA.
What is the fee difference?
In recent competitive examination held by KEA for Village Administration Officer (VAO) posts, it had fixed a fee of ₹750 for General and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates, ₹500 for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates, and ₹250 for Person with Disability (PWD) candidates.
At the same time, for the competitive examinations conducted by KPSC recently for filling up vacant posts in the Agriculture Department, a fee of ₹600 had been fixed for General category candidates and ₹500 for OBC candidates. The full fee was waived off for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates.
Mr. Prasanna clarified that the KEA has brought many reforms in the recruitment examination system. Installation of CCTV cameras has been made mandatory in all examination halls. By webcasting the exams, action has been taken to ensure that there are no illegalities. Cost is also incurred on installation of metal detectors, appointment of staff according to the number of candidates, security measures, and evaluation of answer sheets, he said.
Apart from this, KEA also expressed its difficulty in conducting Computer Based Test (CBT) for filling up of government posts due to lack of basic facilities.
After obtaining the approval for conducting the examination, a tender was invited to conduct the PGCET through CBT on a practical basis. We are currently checking the merits and demerits of CBT. It is becoming difficult to arrange infrastructure for all the candidates to appear for the CBT in the same period, according to the KEA.
Published – November 13, 2024 04:47 pm IST
