The hearing in the appeal against the Karnataka High Court's order directing the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) to re-do the ranking process for the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) has been adjourned to September 22. The appeal was filed by the KEA after it was directed by a Single-judge Bench of the court to consider Pre-University College II marks for all students, including those from the 2021 PUC batch, who repeated the KCET exam this year.
Additional Advocate General, appearing for the KEA, said that the body will consider the matter and come up with a solution that works for both freshers and repeaters of KCET 2022. "While 22,000 repeaters appeared for the exam, 1.35 lakh freshers also appeared. If a verdict is passed against the interest of the latter, they might move court again and the cycle will continue. Therefore, we (KEA) will think the issue over and come up with a solution that benefits both parties." Following this submission, the Two-judge Divisional Bench of the High Court adjourned the matter and it will be taken up for hearing again on September 22. In a statement to EdexLive earlier, KEA Executive Director S Ramya had said that the KEA will ensure that no student is left behind academically.
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 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.
