State, KEA oppose CET repeaters’ plea, Karnataka HC seeks solution

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court adjourned the hearing on petitions filed by CET repeaters to August 22, to enable the State government to decide on a possible solution to their woes. Justice SR Krishna Kumar gave time to the State government so it can examine giving weightage for CET marks and PU-II marks in the ratio of 75:25, as a one-time measure, considering the peculiar scenario due to Covid-19.

The court mentioned that CET repeaters who passed PU-II in 2021, had not taken the written examination and were given marks based on criteria fixed by the authorities due to the pandemic. The petitioner-students moved court, seeking directions to allot them professional seats in the current academic year, taking into consideration marks obtained in the qualifying examination held the previous year, along with marks secured in CET held in 2022 for the academic year 2022-23.  

KEA STANCE AGAINST REPEATERS
The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) filed objections before the high court, stating that none of the 23,344 petitioner-students appeared for the qualifying examination in 2021, as the examination was cancelled. Thus, the marks granted to the petitioners cannot be considered to determine their merit for the present academic year.

Praying to court to dismiss the petitions, it also contended that the rank of students of 2022 will get altered to their detriment, as the petitioners never appeared for the qualifying examination. The State government contended that 2.16 lakh students applied for CET for 2022-23. Of them, 2.09 lakh students wrote the CET in June this year, and 26,670 are repeaters like the petitioner-students. If the petitioners’ prayer is allowed, grave injustice will be done to around 1.83 lakh students who have actually undertaken the PU Board exam and secured ranks under the CET merit list for 2022-23.