Kerala   

Court tells managements to admit students from merit list

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, AUG. 25. A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court today declined to stay the operation of a single judge's verdict ordering that the management seats in the self-financing medical colleges be filled up from the merit list prepared by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations on the basis of the common entrance test.

The single judge had issued the order after declaring invalid the entrance test conducted by the association and also the admissions made by the self-financing medical college managements in the management quotas on the basis of the test.

The Bench comprising Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice K.K. Dinesan ordered that if candidates already admitted on the basis of the management's test found themselves also in the merit list prepared by the Commissioner for Entrance Examination, their admission should not be disturbed. However, the admission of those whose name did not figure in the merit list should be cancelled and the vacancies so created should be filled up from the merit list. The Bench also recorded the submission made by the Advocate General that the recent government order allowed the managements to select candidates of their choice from the merit list for admitting in the management quota. The Bench directed that the admission be completed before August 31. The court also made it clear that the students admitted in the NRI quota would not be affected by the order.

The Bench issued the interim order while admitting appeals filed by the Association of Kerala Self-financing Medical, Dental, Ayurveda and Siddha Colleges and others against a single judge's verdict.

The single judge had directed the Government to pass appropriate orders under Section 12 of the Kerala (Prohibition of Capitation Fee and Procedure for Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, regarding "modalities" for making admission from the merit list prepared by the Entrance Commissioner. Refusing the plea of the Association to declare the test conducted by it as valid, the single judge observed that the Supreme Court had not stayed the operation of Section 3 of the Act.

So, the managements were bound by the provisions of the Section 3. The provision mandated that the seats in the management quota should be filled up either from the list prepared on the basis of the Common Entrance Test or from the list prepared on the basis of the Entrance Test conducted by a consortium of professional colleges.

The court had held that the actions taken by the K.T. Thomas Committee were "superseded" by Section 3 of the Act. Therefore, the directive of the Committee for postponing the test was "no longer enforceable", the single judge had observed.

The single judge had said that as long as Section 3 of the Act remained in force, admission to management quotas for this year could be made only from the list prepared by the Entrance Commissioner.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• SSLC grading system put on hold
• PCB orders closure of 77 industrial units
• `States should take decision on new engineering colleges'
• Government told to reconsider decision
• Court tells managements to admit students from merit list
• Ombudsman orders `destruction' of stray dogs
• Benefits to be restored
• Nehru Trophy boat race
• Matsyafed membership
• ITI staff launch hunger strike
• Graft charge: man convicted
• State plea for `NRI-city'
• Briefly

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu