The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) is seeking to eliminate the NRI ward/sponsor quota in admissions to professional courses.

The body is seeking to make this recommendation to the state government following a spike in the number of bogus document submission instances to obtain a seat under the NRI ward quota through a sponsor, who is supposed to be a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) and a blood relative of the candidate.

However, the KEA's proposal exempts the NRI quota, which allows children of NRIs to claim a seat. According to the KEA authorities, the percentage of direct NRI quota claims is lower than the claims under the NRI ward quota.

"Even the claim under the quota is not much, and every year, the unclaimed seats are being converted to management quota. The fee for management and NRI quota is the same," a senior official of the KEA told PTI. To contextualise, 15 per cent of the total number of seats in medical, dental and AYUSH courses have been reserved for the NRI quota.

KEA Executive Director Prasanna H said, "It is difficult even for us to check the authenticity of the documents submitted by the students to claim NRI ward quota."