Date:20/02/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/02/20/stories/2004022002101300.htm

National

`Only CET marks must be considered for engineering admissions in Tamil Nadu'

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, FEB. 19. The All-India Council for Technical Education has informed the Supreme Court that Anna University and the Tamil Nadu Government should consider only the marks in the common entrance test (CET) for admission of students to engineering colleges in the State.

In a counter affidavit to the Anna University's plea for a direction to permit the State to announce its engineering admission policy for 2004-2005, the adviser to the AICTE, K. Subramanian, submitted that it had been categorically stated in the Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court that for deciding the merit of students, marks obtained by them in CET alone should be taken into consideration.

It further submitted that the marks obtained by students in the qualifying examination had nothing to do in scaling out the merit so far as admission to professional courses was concerned as contended by the Anna University. The Supreme Court had ruled that no other method of admission was contemplated even in respect of unfilled seats, the affidavit pointed out. Referring to the Anna University's insistence on securing 60/55/50 per cent marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics for appearing in the CET, the AICTE said the minimum qualification for admission to degree programmes in engineering on these lines could be fixed only if admissions were based on the qualifying examination.

If CET was to be conducted, the minimum marks for eligibility need not be prescribed and all students who had passed the qualifying examination might be permitted to appear in the CET and only the merit ranking in the CET should be the basis for admission.Referring to the Anna University's contention that excellence in professional education could be achieved only by fixing minimum qualifying marks, the AICTE said merit could be judged only through marks obtained in CET and not by clubbing both the marks in the CET and the qualifying examination.The interest of students from backward and poorer sections of the society could be taken care of by the government by prescribing certain percentage of seats. The matter comes up for further hearing on February 23.