High Court Directs State Government To Start Process Of Holding Common Entrance Test

The Madras High Court on 27th Feb 2006 struck down the Tamil Nadu Governments new admission policy for professional courses and directed it to commence the process for holding Common Entrance Test (CET) for all students as per the existing norms.

The Tamil Nadu Regulation of Admission in Professional Courses Act 2006, dispensing with the CET for State Board students alone, infringed the fundamental right to equality, and the State legislature had no legal competence to come out with such an enactment.

The legislation is void, inoperative and unenforceable ruled the First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice Prabha Sridevan.

The State has no reason to enact the legislation…The Act is also liable to be struck down as it violates the concept of Equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution, the Bench ruled.

The State is hereby directed to start the process for holding the CET in accordance with the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Regulations for all Board students for the academic year 2006-07.

Holding that the powers to regulate admission to professional courses lay in a field occupied by the Central Legislature, the Bench said, The State Legislature has no legal competence to pass a law as the subject is occupied by the Central Government.

Totally repugnant

The impugned legislation is totally repugnant to the Central Regulations, the judges said, adding that the MCI and the AICTE Regulations were clear that the field was occupied.

The field is occupied by the Central Legislature, and the impugned Act is not saved by Article 15(5) introduced by the 93rd amendment to the Constitution, they held. The validity of the Act cannot be sustained even under the Article.

Wondering how the inter se merit of candidates could be assessed through two separate examinations the Bench said that under the proposed scheme the non-State Board students must write their qualifying examination under one scheme and then sit for the CET on the basis of the State Board syllabus.

The judges rejected the State Governments contention that the Supreme Court, in the P.A. Inamdar case, diluted the requirement to hold the CET for admission to professional courses.

The argument was misconceived and required rejection, they said.

When Advocate-General N.R. Chandran sought leave of the court to prefer a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court, the Bench rejected the plea. When senior counsel K.M. Vijayan said the process for conducting the CET had been delayed, the Bench directed the Government to commence the process immediately.

Date: 7th March 2006

Source: The Hindu

Notification

If you are aspiring for a medical or dental seat next year then make sure you prepare well for the entrance test. Marks scored in the entrance test is likely to be the sole criterion for assigning ranks and drawing the merit list for admission to medical and dental courses from next year, while performance in II PU will be only an eligibility parameter. As for engineering courses, the government is likely to continue with the earlier pattern of giving equal weightage to PU and CET marks. While private managements have been following this rule to fill up their quota of seats, the state government, following a recent High Court order on eligibility for MBBS course, is also likely to adopt the same pattern for admission to government quota medical and dental seats through the CET Cell. Furthermore, a candidate will be assigned a medical/dental rank only if he or she scores 50 per cent and above (40 per cent for SC/STs) in Physics, Chemistry and Biology combination in the CET; higher education department sources said.

Equal weightage

Hitherto, the CET Cell gave equal weightage to marks scored in the entrance test and also qualifying examination (core subjects) to determine merit. There were no minimum cut-off marks in the CET and students who fared poorly in the entrance test were assigned ranks. However, admissions made by the CET Cell for medical courses was drawn into a controversy this year with a section of colleges refusing to admit students who had secured below 50 per cent in the entrance test. The colleges termed that the admissions violated the guidelines stipulated by the Medical Council of India.

HC order as a relief

An order passed by the Karnataka High Court came as a relief for as many as 238 students admitted to the MBBS course, who otherwise would have lost their seats. However, the court also made it clear that it was only a one time measure. We do not want to take chances next year and will follow all the guidelines set by the MCI and also the Dental Council of India (DCI). These include considering only entrance test marks to determine merit and assigning ranks only to candidates who have scored more than 50 per cent in the CET. Any candidate who scores below 50 per cent in the CET will not be included in the rank list irrespective of the score in the qualifying examination, the sources said. As per the draft rules prepared by the government, a candidate will only need to score the minimum 50 per cent marks in physics, chemistry and biology taken together in the qualifying examination (II PU for state board students and CBSE/ISC for central board students) to fulfill the eligibility requirements for MBBS and BDS admissions. In other words, a candidates score in the qualifying examination will not count, even if it is as high as 90 per cent, when it comes to admissions to MBBS and BDS.

Notification

BHARTI VIDHYAPEETH-04.06.2005: All India Entrance Test for MBA/MBA (HR)/ MBA (IT)/MCA at IMED under Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune (www.bharatividyapeeth.edu). Biomedical Sciences.04.06.2005: Admission Test for MSc-Ph D and M Sc degree courses in Biomedical Sciences at Dr B R Ambedkar Center for Bio Research, University of Delhi (www.acbrdu.edu).

CET-01.06.2005: Common Entrance Test (GET) by Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar (www.ptu.ac.in) for B Tech/ B Arch/ B Pharm 2005 in colleges affiliated to Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar; Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and Punjabi University, Patiala. 1st to 5th June ‘05: Entrance Test OCET-2005 for admission to various courses (including LLB, B P Ed, MMC, LLM, MA, M Sc) by Punjab University at Chandigarh (www.puchd.ac.in).02.06.2005: CET-2005 for Bachelor of Hotel Management & Catering Technology under Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi (www.ipu.ac.in).

COMPUTING-04.06.2005: GET 2 for PGD in Advanced Computing (DAC) at Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Pune and other centres (http://acts.cdac.in).05.06.2005: Entrance test for 1 -year P G D in Software Enterprise Management at C DAC Noida. (www.cdacnoida.com).

DELHI UNIVERSITY-05.06.2005: Entrance Test for BBS / BFIA at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, University of Delhi (www.cbsdu.net).

FASHION-05.06.2005: Entrance Test for MA /BA Hons at Pearl Academy of Fashion (www.pearlacademy.com). Note: This is an indicative guide to forthcoming opportunities for entrv into professional courses/government services. Application deadlines are far in advance of the examination dates. Keep in touch with prominent newspapers regularly regarding notifications, any corrections/revisions relevant to the Examinations.

Alerts of CET

The Supreme Court on Friday posted to the third week of July, hearing on a petition challenging the Tamil Nadu governments decision to abolish the Common Entrance Test (CET) for professional courses in the state.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan listed the matter for hearing after the courts summer vacation after senior counsel Nageswara Rao, appearing for the petitioner student, made a fresh mention of the matter.

Petitioner A S Prabhu has alleged that the governments decision to abolish the CET was illegal as admissions were now being sought to be made by the state through random allotment and in an unscientific manner on the basis of qualifying marks obtained in the board exams.

More : zeenews.com

Thiruvananthapuram, May 13: With the Supreme Court allowing self-financing professional colleges to conduct their own entrance exams amid the ongoing tussle between the Kerala Government and the managements, the students who had already taken the Common Entrance Test (CET) are in a fix, lacking the means to pay capitation and huge fee.

The court verdict has also raised the question of social justice in professional educationcollege

Stating the government would go by the court verdict, Education

More : newkerala.com

For the first time the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) is conducting a Common Entrance Exams (CET) for diploma holders seeking admissions to the second year of professional degree courses in engineering and pharmacy.

This is in keeping with the recent directions from the All India Council for Technical Education, said a highly placed official from the DTE.

In the past, such admissions were being executed based on the diploma results obtained by the students
This year too a total of 74 seats in the second year degree courses in engineering and 6 seats in the second year degree course in pharmacy have been reserved. This accounts for ten per cent each of the total number of seats available in the first year degree courses in engineering and pharmacy, said the official.

More : oheraldo.in

Kakatiya University-Integrated Common Entrance Test-Admission Notification-2006

Warangal - 506 009 (A.P.)

Integrated Common Entrance Test for Admission into M.B.A. and M.C.A. courses of all Universities in Andhra Pradesh and their affiliated colleges (Being conducted on behalf of APSCHE)

Applications are invited for appearing at the Common Entrance Test for admission into M.B.A. and M.C.A. courses (full time/part-time/evening/distance mode) at the following Universities in the State of Andhra Pradesh including their affiliated colleges for the academic year 2006-2007 to be conducted by Kakatiya University, Warangal (as per G.O.Ms.No.25 dated 19-3-2004 of Higher Education (EC) Department):

Andhra University
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University
JNT University
Kakatiya University
Acharya Nagarjuna University
Osmania University
S.K. University
S.V. University
Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam.

Eligibility for MBA & MCA:

The candidates should be Indian Nationals and should satisfy local/non-local status requirements laid down in the Andhra Pradesh Educational Institutions (Regulations of Admission) Order, 1974 as amended up to date.

The candidates other than Indian Nationals should satisfy the rules of the Universities concerned.

The candidates seeking admission into MBA course should have passed a Bachelor’s Degree Examination of not less than three years duration from any recognized University or equivalent thereof besides passing SSC or equivalent examination with Mathematics as one of the subjects.

The candidates seeking admission into MCA course should have passed Bachelor’s Degree Examination of minimum 3 years duration in any discipline with Mathematics at 10+2 level (OR) Should have passed Bachelor’s Degree Examination of minimum 3 years duration in any discipline with Mathematics as one of the subjects.

Provided that a candidate who appeared for the final year degree Examination.

shall also be eligible to appear for ICET-2006.

Admission into any college depends on its Recognition/Affiliation by the Statutory Bodies.

Mere qualification in the Entrance Test does not entitle a candidate to get admitted into M.B.A./M.C.A. course unless the candidate:

appears before the ‘on-line counselling’ at any of the Counselling Centres as notified
applies in response to the admission notification issued by the authority concerned (for distance mode)
satisfies all the eligibility conditions of admission stipulated by the authority concerned.

Time Line:

Commencement of sale of Application Forms :02-03-2006
Last date for the sale & receipt of Application Forms:
Without Late Fee :04-04-2006
With a Late fee of Rs.400-00 through DD : 11-04-2006
Date of ICET-2006 (THURSDAY) 10.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. : 25-05-2006

Sale Of Application Forms:

Prescribed application form for the Entrance Test together with instructions booklet can be had in person on payment of Rs.200/- in cash at (i) all the Head Post Offices, (ii) all the Post Offices located on the University campuses, and (iii) at the e-seva centres in Hyderabad and Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh.

Submission Of Application Forms:

Duly filled-in application forms (placed in the envelope supplied) may be submitted along with relevant documents by paying postal charges through the Head Post Offices preferably by Speed Post or in person so as to reach the Convener, ICET-2006, SDLCE Building, Kakatiya University, Warangal - 506 009 (A.P.) India on or before 04-04-2006. The application forms may also be submitted up to 5.00 p.m. on 11-04-2006 along with a late fee of Rs.400/- by way of DD drawn from any Nationalized Bank in favour of the Secretary, APSCHE, payable at Hyderabad. Incomplete application forms and application forms received after the specified date and time will summarily be rejected.

Prof. V. GANGADHAR
Convener, ICET-2006