BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Monday asked the state government to find a solution to the situation that has arisen after a single judge ordered quashing of the CET rank list and redoing the ranking (50:50) for undergraduate technical courses for the academic year 2022-23.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty passed the order after hearing the appeals filed by the state government and KEA against the single judge order. The court adjourned further hearing to September 22.
While quashing a ‘note’ issued by KEA, stating that the PU II marks obtained by CET repeaters, who are the petitioners, will not be considered for CET ranking for 2022-23, the single judge had directed KEA to redo the CET ranking for admissions.
The redo has to be done strictly in accordance with Rule 3 and 4 of the Karnataka Selection of Candidates for Admission to Government Seats in Professional Education Institutions Rules 2006, without reference to the proviso to Rule 4 inserted in the government order dated September 1, 2021, bearing in mind the observations made in this order, the single judge had said. The petitioner students, who were before the single judge, did not appear for the PU II exam in 2021 as it was cancelled due to Covid and were promoted.
The government issued a notification on September 1, 2021, amending Rule 4 by inserting a proviso, which stated that merit should be determined by considering the marks obtained only in the CET 2021-22. On July 30, 2022, the KEA released the CET results and rankings. On the same day, KEA also issued a ‘note’ stating second PUC marks obtained by the petitioners-CET repeaters in 2021 will not be considered for ranking for 2022-23.