No IDs, CAT aspirants turned away

Several candidates appearing for the Common Admission Test (CAT) were turned away from the examination centres for not producing the required identification proofs.

The common mistake has been the use of college IDs without a valid ATM, credit or debit card. Another mistake is the use of photocopied or scanned identification.

“In order to protect the integrity of the CAT programme, Prometric implements a strict ID validation process on behalf of the Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs). The list of approved identification types was reviewed and approved by the IIMs, and has been communicated clearly on the CAT website as well as on the admit cards that all registered candidates receive by email.

Unfortunately, this information may have been missed by some candidates as we have  to turn several of them away for not producing the right identification on the first two days of testing,” said a Prometric statement.

Prometric is the authorised agency to organise the test.

“We do not want to turn candidates away for such reasons as they would have studied hard and prepared for a long time for the exam, however, Prometric has to be consistent and adhere to the policies that the IIMs have set for the CAT,” said Soumitra Roy, managing director of the Prometric India.

The UID card has now been added to the list of approved identification types and if in doubt, candidates may bring an affidavit (in English) with photo, signature, date of birth and residential address.

Bhagyashree Pandya, a candidate, said: “List of the documents required for identification process is very clearly communicated to the candidates by Prometric. I am thoroughly aware about it. There could be some students from tier two cities or from vernacular mediums who have not been able to interpret the given information about required candidates.” Students should visit the official CAT website for detailed information.