Southern States - Tamil Nadu

SC to hear UGC plea on T.N. entrance test

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI APRIL 24 . The Supreme Court will hear on April 29 an application from the University Grants Commission (UGC) to permit it to hold a common entrance test (CET) for students for admission to the deemed universities in Tamil Nadu even as the State Government has insisted that it would conduct the test for 2002-2003.

In its application, the UGC submitted that the apex court while passing an interim order on March 7 on special leave petitions (SLPs) filed by the UGC and deemed universities had said that the UGC would conduct an all India entrance test "either by itself or through other agency approved and endorsed by it but not through any one of the deemed universities''.

The UGC submitted that after the order was passed, the Tamil Nadu Government wrote a letter to it stating that the State Government itself would conduct the entrance test for the deemed universities.

The UGC submitted that it appeared from the letter that the State Government also sought to impinge upon the functioning of deemed universities under the control of the UGC. According to the UGC, the letter suggested that 85 per cent of the total seats available in the deemed universities in the State should be earmarked for students of Tamil Nadu and that the State Government should be permitted to make admissions by following the rules of reservation. Taking exception to the State Government's stand, the UGC contended that if the State Government was permitted to hold the test, it would amount to interference in the functioning of the deemed universities.

The UGC further said that it should be permitted to use the infrastructural facilities of the deemed universities for conducting the entrance test under its direct control and supervision as it would avoid a great deal of inconvenience to the UGC as well as to the students and sought a direction in this regard. The applications filed by two deemed universities in Tamil Nadu, Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation and Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy (SASTRA), to allow them to conduct all India entrance tests of their own for the academic year 2002-2003, will also be heard on April 29.

The issues raised by the deemed universities had already been referred to an 11-Judge Bench, which is hearing questions relating to rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.

Admitting a batch of SLPs from the Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy (SASTRA) and others, the apex court had on August 20 last stayed a judgment of the Madras High Court upholding State Government's order including them under the single window admission system and the interim order was passed on March 7.

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