KCET 2022 Row: Karnataka High Court directs KEA to consider 50% PUC marks for repeaters 

However, the Karnataka Examination Authority on July 30 issued an order stating that only 100 per cent of CET marks will be considered for CET candidates of  2021 who appeared in 2022. This is because in 2021, the CET evaluation was based only on 100 per cent CET scores as against the norm of 50 per cent of QE or PUC/class 12 marks and 50 per cent of CET score.

The decision on considering only 100 per cent CET score was arrived after the government promoted all the students of II PUC due to Covid-19 without conducting the examination and evaluating based on SSLC, first PU and internal assessment marks.

Justice Krishna Kumar, who was hearing the case, however quashed the July 30 order — the day when CET rankings were also announced- of the KEA citing that, the bulletin issued by the KEA clearly prescribes for eligibility to gain admission by taking both II PUC/XII standard marks and CET marks in equal proportion and in the entire bulletin there is absolutely no mention as regards not considering II PUC/XII standard marks for CET ranking for the academic year 2022-23. The HC also observed that the ‘impugned’ order of the KEA is ‘unreasoned’, ‘non-speaking’, ‘cryptic’ and does not disclose any ‘application of mind’.

The HC also observed that by ‘not’ accepting the II PUC/XII standard marks can lead to and result in ‘absurd’ consequences.

The KEA also argued that considering 50 per cent of QE marks for repeaters would do injustice to the CET freshers of 2022 and the CET candidates of 2021. To which the HC said the said contention of the KEA cannot be made the basis to either interpret the proviso to Rule 4 (considering 50 per cent CET and 50 per cent II PUC for CET ranking) nor come to the conclusion that the impugned note is legal, valid and proper.

This year a total of 2,10,829 candidates appeared for CET.  However, around 25,000 CET candidates from 2021 repeated the CET in 2022 in order to better their rankings this year. Some students also took a drop to study for NEET 2022 and planned for CET as a backup option. The repeaters’ rank actually plummeted drastically despite scoring well in CET compared to the freshers.

Shiv Santosh, a CET 2022 fresher who secured a rank of 24443  said, “This decision is really disappointing. After the revaluation my ranking might go up by a thousand points. There is little sense of tension and I will get a clear picture only after the re-evaluation is done. However, I might still seek admissions through CET ranking rather than COMEDK ranking”.