BANGALORE: The former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily has termed the law enacted by the State Government to regulate admissions to professional colleges in the State "retrograde" and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

He told presspersons here on Tuesday that the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006 was not in accordance with the letter and spirit of the 93rd amendment to the Constitution. He demanded the promulgation of an Ordinance rectifying the anomalies in the law in order to protect the interests of meritorious students.

Mr. Moily, who was the Chief Minister when the Common Entrance Test (CET) was introduced for admission to professional courses, in 1993, charged that the new law was a reflection of the administrative and legal bankruptcy of the Government. It had exposed students to the capitation fee system and left professional education to free market forces.

The Act had taken away the responsibility of the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell to allot 50 per cent of the seats for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and other backward class students in unaided non-minority institutions. The Government had surrendered its rights and the CET had now been converted into a marketing agency for institutions that were unwanted in the market, he charged.

When the Act provided 15 per cent of the seats to non-resident Indian students, why were provisions not made for State students and for special categories such as sports, the disabled, NCC, children of Defence personnel or Kannadigas living outside the State, he asked. "The Act is an assault on the State's students."

Unless the Ordinance is promulgated to rectify the defects, students would suffer irreparable harm and anarchy will prevail in the field of professional education, he warned.

"It is outrageous to surrender 50 per cent of reserved category seats to private managements," he said, adding, "It is startling that the policy makers have demonstrated such insensitivity to equity, merit and accessibility."

`Unfair to rural students'

Only CET marks were being considered for admissions to medical and dental courses this year. The relevance of the pre-university course would be lost and injustice would be done to students from rural areas if the medical and dental seats were filled on the basis of CET marks, he said.

"Why is the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, who claims to be champion of rural folk, silent? Why is he not writing to the Government on the CET issue," Mr. Moily asked.

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