The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : "Entrance tests eliminated in the interests of rural students"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 22, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

"Entrance tests eliminated in the interests of rural students"

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The State Government told the Madras High Court that the new policy decision for admissions to professional courses was taken in the larger interest of students from rural and economically weaker sections.

In its common counter-affidavit to a large batch of writ petitions challenging the June 9 Government Order discontinuing common entrance examination (CET) and the improvement mark scheme from the academic year 2005-06, the Government said: "Experience has shown that the CET has resulted in great disadvantage to students studying in rural areas... The policy decision to cancel the CET will help students who belong to rural areas and who are economically weak and backward. Students hailing from economically weaker sections of society are handicapped for preparing themselves forthe CET due to lack of infrastructure and also due to the fact that the methodology adopted is totally new and different." (The entire batch is slated to be taken up for final hearing by the First Bench of the Madras High Court on June 22).

As regards the abolition of the improvement examination scheme, the counter said, "Students who take up improvement examination have an unfair advantage over the freshers as they are revising the subjects which they have already studied. It is established that improvement candidates have cornered more than 50 per cent of the total seats in medical courses last year." This, despite the fact that out of about five lakh students who wrote the Plus Two examination last year, only 4,793 took up improvement examination.

"The system of improvement examination cannot be claimed by anyone as a matter of right. A new and enriched syllabus has been introduced for the Plus Two public examination for the academic year 2005-06. Therefore, students who appear for Plus Two examination in 2005-06 would be at a disadvantage if they have to compete with those appearing for the improvement examination," it said.

As far as admission to medical colleges is concerned, none of the petitioner-students had applied for admission as on date because the prospectus was yet to be issued, the counter said adding, "the Government is competent to issue the impugned order, and it is entitled to rely upon the marks obtained in qualifying examination or equivalent. The Regulations prescribed by the Medical Council of India does not prohibit it."

Pointing out that all the petitioner-students had applied only for "vested private interests," the counter-affidavit said, "either the doctrine of promissory estoppel or legitimate expectation cannot come in the way of public interest so as to prevail over the private interest."

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