BANGALORE: The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), set up by the State Government to replace the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell, is now under serious jeopardy. Disappointed by the KEA's lack of autonomy, private professional college managements have reportedly threatened to walk out of the arrangement.

The managements are angry that they were not even consulted before the Government drafted the authority rules and gazetted them. Poor representation for private managements in the authority's governing council is the main grouse. A preliminary meeting of the managements on Wednesday rejected the KEA guidelines.

"In its present form, the KEA is unacceptable to us," sources in the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) told The Hindu .

Only four out of 18 Governing Council members of the KEA will be from the private managements. Even the four management representatives are to be nominated by the Government. The private colleges have termed this "a very apologetic concept of autonomy, since even the KEA executive is bound by the diktats of the Government."

Management representatives, it is learnt, will meet the Higher Education Department officials on Thursday to express their "disappointment" with the whole idea. Linguistic minority colleges had rejected the authority. But the Government could expect more headaches over the seat-sharing arrangement. According to COMEDK sources, the colleges are now not keen on any such arrangement. Even a consensus on the lines of last year's three-tier fee structure could be out of question this time.

What has upset the managements more is the Government's contention that the KEA rules were only drafted on December 21.

The colleges have learnt that the order was finalised a day earlier, without even consulting them, the sources said.

The managements hoped that the KEA would mean a uniform fee structure and a single counselling process for undergraduate professional courses. But they now feel the Government will push for a three-tier fee structure, a concept unlikely to go down well with the colleges. Under threat is the much-publicised common entrance test for undergraduate admissions next year.

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