Govt to challenge HC order on revising CET ranks

The Karnataka government has decided to challenge the Karnataka High Court order directing authorities to redo the Common Entrance Test (CET) rank list

Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan on Monday chaired a meeting with officials and legal experts on the issue that will affect the rankings of thousands of students.

But he expressed confidence that the CET process will be completed on time amid concerns that challenging the order may lead to delays in admissions.

“Considering the injustice caused to fresher students because of the order, the government has decided to challenge it,” Narayan said. “Advocates will decide whether to appeal before the same single bench or go before a double bench," he said.

The HC on Saturday directed authorities to redo the CET rankings for admission to undergraduate courses in Engineering and Technology for the academic year 2022-23 by considering both PU and CET marks in a 50:50 ratio.

The order came as a relief to as many as 23,000 candidates who sat for KCET again this year, but sparked concerns on the fate of fresher candidates.

Narayan said the HC order will disturb the CET ranks of 1.5 lakh fresher candidates.

"Since II PU exam was not held last year due to Covid, all students were passed based on their SSLC and I PU marks," Narayan said.

"This resulted in more students securing over 90-95% of marks. But, this year's exam was held as usual. In such a case, if the PU marks of last year students are taken into consideration, then the ranking secured by students this year will go down significantly."

The minister said the students who "approached the court are sticking to a single technical issue".

They should have understood the decision taken by the government," he said, adding the government is also "concerned about the repeaters".

Narayan said the CET process will be completed on time. "Steps will be taken to complete the counselling process before September 30," he said.

Higher education principal secretary Rashmi Mahesh, Collegiate and Technical Education department commissioner P Pradeep, KEA Executive Director Ramya S and other legal experts were present in the meeting that Narayan chaired.