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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Tamil Nadu
By V. Jayanth
CHENNAI, JULY 28 . The wait for students and parents continues endlessly. With the opening of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High court, the focus has shifted to the temple town. The Chief Justice, B. Subhashan Reddy, is personally leading a team of judges to see the initial phase of the Bench through. He has to return here to pronounce the verdict in two pending cases, in which the First Bench has reserved rulings. These pertain to `improvement marks' and `22 disputed questions' in the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examinations. Counselling for admission to engineering colleges through the Anna University's Single-Window System (SWS) can begin only after the First Bench delivers the judgments. The verdict can also impact on medical admissions, for which counselling has already been held. University authorities are confident that if medical counselling is not repeated, they can get their process started within three days of the judgment, expected next week the earliest.
New problems
But new problems are cropping up. If the Consortium of Self-financing Arts, Science and Professional Colleges, which conducted its own common entrance test (CET) last weekend, thought that it could go ahead with the admissions based on the test and without the SWS, it might have a problem. The Government has gone on appeal against a single judge's order allowing the consortium to admit students on the basis of the CET and without the SWS. The Permanent Committee, headed by justice S.S. Subramani, prescribed the SWS. When the court did away with the system, the Government has gone on appeal. This may also turn into another legal battle, when the appeal comes up for hearing. The on-going protest by Chennai advocates, who are staying away from the court on the issue of the setting up of the Madurai Bench, might also contribute to the delay. (The advocates have since decided to resume work from Monday. But they will abstain from the court of Mr. Justice Reddy.) Whatever the reasons, the admissions are being further delayed. And the parents as well as their wards are losing their cool. "I wish they leave us alone to pursue our education. All this is unnecessary litigation tending to affect our future. We may end up losing a full semester," regrets Umachandran, who with a cut-off score of 272 out of 300 is confident of getting "a good seat in a good college."
Varsity version
The university is helpless. Its authorities say they are only trying to set standards and make admissions "transparent and merit-based" — in line with a Supreme Court order. Had private, self-financing colleges fallen in line and stuck to the system proposed, the counselling process would have been more than half-done by now, they argue. They say there are reports of some colleges in interior districts having started the academic year with their own admissions. This will be a problem, caution the authorities. As for private colleges, their argument is on a parallel track. "The Supreme Court has laid down the framework. Many colleges have surrendered more than 50 per cent of their seats to the university's SWS. Why cannot they allow us to go ahead with the admissions on the basis of the CET to fill up the management quota seats? We have more seats than applicants. What are we fighting for? For the investments we have made, we must be allowed some discretion in admissions. What is wrong in that?" asks an office-bearer of the consortium. Government officials say they are going entirely by the Supreme Court order. "Both the Government and Anna University have a responsibility to regulate the functioning of all colleges and maintain high standards in professional education. We are conscious of the delay in getting started with the process. But this is inevitable. It has to be transparent and based on merit and we have to ensure that. Even if there is delay, it must be legal and fair, so that there are no further complications," explains a senior official.
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