KCET row: Karnataka HC ‘concerned’ about fate of repeaters, but allows KEA to begin documentation verification process

However, Justice Krishna Kumar Monday gave KEA the nod to go ahead with the documentation verification process for all KCET candidates from Tuesday, but did not allow it to commence the counselling process.

Justice Kumar also observed, “If the qualifying marks for repeaters are not considered, then are you implying that the board exams are of no value?” The Court said document verification and counselling will be based on the outcome of the writ petition filed by the students. The high court has sought further documents and justification from the government on KEA adopting the process of KCET evaluation for 2021 and 2022 and the reason for negating the qualifying marks for KCET repeaters.

Several students had filed a petition in the high court last week seeking a stay on the documentation verification process and requesting the Court to direct KEA to consider Pre-University (PU) marks for KCET repeaters.

The KCET rankings announced on July 30 were marred by controversy after KEA did not consider qualifying marks or PU marks for KCET repeaters citing that it would be unfair for freshers who took up CET this year. Meanwhile, some argued that there was no clear indication from KEA on the evaluation criteria for KCET repeaters, which has led to low rankings for many of them, despite scoring well in CET. The case has now been listed for hearing on August 18.