Karnataka Examinations Authority Proposes Aadhaar-Linked Registration to Prevent Seat Blocking

BENGALURU: The

Karnataka Examinations Authority

(KEA) has proposed

Aadhaar-linked registration

for students aspiring for

professional course seats

from next year, with an intention to put an end to the menace of

seat blocking

, official sources said on Tuesday. The KEA has submitted this proposal to the

Karnataka e-Governance

department.
"The e-Governance department is in favour of our proposal and they have sent a proposal to the

Government of India

for approval. We are awaiting the approval soon," KEA Executive Director H Prasanna told PTI.
"Aadhaar-linked registration is proposed to ensure authentication which was not there so far, to prevent any mischief in the registration, and also ensure dissemination of exam-related information to students on their mobile phones," he said.
There are also plans to also introduce Aadhaar-linked registration to recruitment exams KEA conducts for various departments, to curb impersonation and other malpractices, Prasanna said.

The move by the KEA comes in the wake of an alleged seat-blocking scam coming to light, under the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) quota, after completion of all the rounds of engineering seat allotment.
It was found that several students had blocked seats using the same IP address and that mobile numbers and email ids they provided to KEA were fake or wrong.
According to officials, it was found that in some cases students who opted for seats in sought-after streams at top colleges, did not report to the colleges, which could result in all such seats that were under

KCET quota

falling into the management quota.
Suspecting seat blocking in these instances, they said third parties may be in collusion with the college managements, and also students in some cases.