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.

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