BANGALORE: The State Government is committed to holding a single Common Entrance Test (CET) this year despite the decision by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) to hold its entrance test for admission to management quota seats in undergraduate professional colleges on May 6.

This was stated by Minister for Higher Education D.H. Shankaramurthy at a press conference here on Wednesday.

The Minister said he was surprised on hearing the COMED-K's decision to conduct the test. Mr. Shankaramurthy said he would speak to the managements of private colleges in a week to resolve the issue.

The Government had taken the decision to hold a single test for the convenience of students and parents, he said.

Mr. Shankaramurthy said he and Minister for Medical Education V.S. Acharya had held two rounds of talks with college managements to sort out differences on the constitution of Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), quota of seats and fee structure. "We will arrive at a consensus soon," he said.

The CET Cell has already announced that it will conduct the entrance test to fill government quota seats on May 9.

In 2006, the CET Cell, COMED-K and Karnataka Linguistic and Religious Minority Institutions held separate tests. To put an end to multiple tests and fee structure, the Government planned to hold a single entrance test for students seeking admission to professional courses this year.

Rift over KEA

COMED-K announced its entrance test date following differences between the Government and managements over formation of KEA.

COMED-K had already rejected the Government's proposal that the single CET be held by the autonomous KEA. COMED-K was unhappy about the formation of KEA and sought more representation on it, which was not possible as per law, he said.

The Government decided to constitute KEA with 18 members. Eleven members were officials of the Education Department and the rest were to be nominated by the Government.

The managements had written to the Government that the KEA was not its concept of an independent autonomous agency and such a body was not in the best interests of students or colleges.

Mr. Shankaramurthy said the managements wanted to constitute a separate autonomous body comprising a majority of COMED-K members to conduct the entrance test.

The issue of who should head the KEA was also to be resolved.

While COMED-K preferred an expert to head the authority, the Government had decided to appoint Principal Secretary, Higher Education, as its president, Mr. Shankaramurthy added.

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