The Karnataka High Court's single-bench order in the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET 2022) was challenged by the Karnataka Examinations Authority. The Court on Thursday, September 15, ordered the state government to comply with the office objections found in its appeal against the single-bench order in the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET 2022) case. No arguments were heard from either side today as the back office of the court highlighted certain office objections (Edexlive is not privy to the nature of these objections) in the government's appeal. The matter will now be taken up for hearing on Monday, September 19.
The appeal was filed by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) before a divisional Bench of the High Court, after a Single-judge Bench ordered the KEA to consider Pre-University College II marks for all students, including repeaters from the 2021 batch in the KCET merit score. The Court also directed the KEA to re-do the entire ranking process for this year.
The case was first filed by KCET repeaters from the 2021 PUC batch, who were informed by the KEA that their PUC marks will not be included in the KCET merit score because, unlike other freshers from the 2022 batch, they did not write Board exams to clear the PUC. It is to be noted that the PUC batch of 2021 was cleared on the basis of their Class X and Class XI marks since exams could not be conducted at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The petitioners claimed that more than 22,000 KCET repeaters will be impacted due to the KEA's decision. After the HC verdict was pronounced on September 3, KCET freshers also voiced their concerns given the change that would be introduced in their rank.
KEA's Executive Director S Ramya told EdexLive, "KEA will take steps to ensure that students are not left behind academically. The verification process is expected to be completed by September 21. The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has given time till October 25 for counselling and students have one more month."
The KCET examination is conducted for admissions into BTech, BArch, BSc Agriculture, and BPharma courses in government, private-aided, private un-aided professional institutions in Karnataka. The counselling for admissions was put on hold by the court when the case was first filed by the repeaters. Now, with the appeal being filed by the government, the counselling stands delayed even further.
