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The state government plans to consider only the marks obtained in the Common Entrance Test to allot ranks for admission to undergraduate professional courses from the next academic year. So far, the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) considered both CET and PUC marks to declare ranks.

The government’s move is aimed at curbing the tuition mafia/coaching centres and to counter question paper leaks.

A senior official from the department of higher education told Express, “As we consider both PUC and CET marks to announce CET ranking, there is an unhealthy competition among private colleges/students where they are bowing to the paper leak racket just to get good marks in PUC exams.”

“If we consider only CET marks, we can control both the tuition mafia and those involved in question paper leaks,” the official added.

Karnataka is all set to follow the procedure already being followed by states like Maharashtra and Delhi, where they consider the marks obtained in entrance exams to allot ranks for admission in professional courses. Even the norms of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) state the same. As per AICTE norms, a student must secure 50 per cent marks in Physics, Chemistry and Biology in PUC exams to get eligibility to write CET and to be considered for allotment of a CET rank.

Matter in court

A PIL has been filed by a college from Mangaluru, which has said the KEA is practising a criterion which violates AICTE norms. “We will inform the court about our agenda of revising the existing criterion to declare CET ranking,” said an official.

(New Indian Express)