HYDERABAD: Much to the surprise of the EAMCET officials, 144 candidates who passed their Intermediate in 2005 applied for the medical entrance exam of the EAMCET this year.

Similarly, 343 candidates from 2006 Intermediate batch, 674 from 2007 batch, 1,384 from 2008 and 2,512 candidates from 2009 batch also applied for the medical exam. Candidates who passed in 2005 would have ideally finished their MBBS course or BDS course by this time. Had they preferred to join B.Sc course they would have completed their Masters course too. Officials suspect some foul play in their applications and are verifying their antecedents.

EAMCET-2011 Committee Chairman, D.N. Reddy, said the applications are being verified in view of last year's episode when some medical students were found involved in the efforts to “leak” the paper using modern gadgets. “The tendency to repeat the medical exam is common and one can understand the 2010 batch students applying. But applying for the test after a gap of six years is indeed strange,” he said. Officials are also verifying from which place they have applied and what centres of examination they preferred.

Biometric method

Prof. Reddy said finger prints and photographs of all the candidates will be taken using the Biometric method during the admissions time. The government is also keen on this and it will be linked to release of scholarships and fee reimbursement.

However, the plans to take finger prints during the EAMCET exam itself may not be a possibility this year. He said the machine would take 30 seconds for each candidate and it will create problems to cover such a large number. Moreover, parents and students might not cooperate given the sensitivity of the exam.

“But we might adopt this at centres identified as notorious by the police department,” he said. In fact, a demo was given by three different companies to the officials at the review meeting which was also attended by two senior police officers, including one from the Intelligence wing.

Prof. Reddy said the randomisation of questions in the four sets will be changed this year.

In the earlier system question numbers 1 to 10 from “A” set were placed as question numbers 11 to 20 in “B” set, 21 to 30 in “C” set, 31 to 40 in “D” set and so on.

“Gangs involved in malpractice were aware of this method and tried to use it to their advantage. It was found out in the police investigation too,” he said adding that this year the process of randomisation would be different.

The EAMCET officials have also decided to buy 20 jammers to place them at problematic centres. Each jammer costing Rs. 40,000 each would cover an area of 6,000 sq. feet. “We are negotiating the price,” he said.