Karnataka Examinations Authority Moves to Prevent Fraud with Aadhaar Registration

According to official sources on Tuesday, the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has proposed Aadhaar-linked registration for students hoping to get seats in professional courses starting next year in an effort to solve the problem of seat blocking.

This proposal was made by the KEA to the Karnataka e-Government department. "Our plan is supported by the e-Government department, which has submitted it to the Indian government for approval. We anticipate receiving the approval shortly," stated H Prasanna, Executive Director of KEA.

According to him, "Aadhaar-linked registration is proposed to ensure authentication which was not there so far, to prevent any mischief in the registration, and also to ensure dissemination of exam-related information to students on their mobile phones." In order to prevent impersonation and other malpractices, Prasanna stated that efforts are also underway to implement Aadhaar-linked registration for the recruitment exams that KEA administers for several departments.

The KEA's action follows the discovery of a purported seat-blocking scheme under the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) quota following the conclusion of all engineering seat allocation rounds. It was discovered that multiple students had blocked seats using the same IP address, and that the email addresses and mobile numbers they gave KEA were incorrect or fictitious.

In certain instances, students who chose seats in popular streams at prestigious universities failed to show up for class, according to officials. This might lead to all of the seats that were under the KCET quota going into the management quota. They suggested that third parties might be conspiring with the college administration and, in certain situations, students to block seats in certain situations.

The KEA’s Aadhaar-linked registration aims to curb fraudulent activities and secure a fairer seat allocation process, promoting transparency and accountability in professional course admissions across Karnataka's institutions. Approval from the government is awaited.