New Delhi, March 16
In an important judgement that would have an impact on admissions to technical institutions in the country, the Supreme Court today ruled that any higher standard fixed by a state for entrance tests to the professional courses would prevail upon the norms set by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The state government could fix higher minimum standards for admission to the professional courses and the AICTE’s norm would not come in its way, a Bench of Mr Justice S.Rajendra Babu, Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur ruled.
The ruling came on an appeal by the Tamil Nadu Government against the Madras High Court order, quashing its decision regarding the fixing of higher percentage of marks for
eligibility to sit in the common entrance test (CET) for admission to technical institutions in the state.
The court said there were two methods for deciding the admissions — fixing minimum percentage for eligibility to sit in the CET or the maximum obtained by a candidate.
As per the AICTE rules, the pass percentage in the intermediate examination was the minimum standard for a student to sit in the CET, but the Tamil Nadu Government had fixed the minimum percentage at 60 for the open category candidates, 55 and 50 per cent to backward and most backward class students, respectively.
The students had challenged the government’s decision in the high court, which had ruled that the government could not override the standard fixed by the AICTE, the central governing body for technical education in the country.
The apex court made it clear that its ruling would not have any retrospective affect and not apply to the admission of 13,000 students made to various courses in the state during the 2003-04 academic session on the basis of the AICTE norms.
