KERALA SELF FINANCING ENGINEERING COLLEGE MANGEMENTS ASSOCIATION Vs. ADMMISSION SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROFESSIONAL COLLEGE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Question that is posed for consideration in this case is whether the management of various unaided Engineering Colleges can devise their own method of admission to the Engineering Courses in their colleges for the year 2007-08 by adding marks obtained by the candidates in the Entrance Examination conducted by the Commissioner for Entrance Examination with the marks obtained by the candidates in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in the Plus-two qualifying Examination.

(2.) Learned single Judge referred the matter for consideration by a larger Bench in view of the ruling of the Division Bench in Lisie Medical & Education Institutions v. State of Kerala, 2007(1) KLT 409 setting aside section 3 of Act 19 of 2006 which insisted on admission only from the rank list prepared on the basis of the State Entrance Examination. Proposals were made by the petitioner before the Admission Supervisory Committee for adding the marks obtained by the candidates in the qualifying examination with that of the Entrance Examination following an equalization method for rationalization. Committee which was constituted under Section 4of Act 19 of 2006 expressed the view that since this Court has struck down Section 3 of Act 19 of 2006, the admission to self financing professional colleges have to be governed by the decisions of the Supreme Court including the decisions in inamdar's v. state of Maharastra, (2005) 6 SCC 537 and Mridul Dar v. Union of India and others (2005) 2 SCC 65. Admission Supervisory Committee took the view that as per the judgment in inamdar's case the management can either select students by conducting a Common Entrance Test by the consortium of all the Private Engineering Colleges or from the list prepared by the Commissioner for Entrance Examination. Management submitted a detailed reply by their letter dated 12th March, 2007. Reference was made to the decision of the apex court in T.M.A. Pai Foundation case and stated that every Private Unaided institution has the right of a rational selection which it devises for itself. The only requirement or control is that the rules for the admission should be subject to the rules of the university as to eligibility and qualification. Further it was also pointed out that the Private Unaided Colleges have the right to admit students of their choice subject to an objective and rationale procedure of selection. Admission Supervisory Committee however, passed an order dated 21-3-2007 stating that in order to determine the merit of the candidates there is a recognized State authority in the State of Kerala viz, State Entrance Commissioner and he prepares the rank list every year on the basis of merit of the students as obtained in the Entrance Test. Therefore the managements can adopt the procedure of selecting the students for admission from the rank list prepared by the State entrance Commissioner for the seats set apart or management. Further it was also pointed out that once the merit of the candidate is determined in a competitive examination it cannot be denied or curtailed by a process of adding marks obtained in the qualifying examination. It was also stated that the method of addition of marks suggested by the petitioner cannot be said to be fair, transparent and merit based. Further it was also stated that equating the marks obtained by candidates in qualifying examination in Standard X and XII without working out equivalence among the different Boards conducting the qualifying examinations, cannot be treated to be a safe or proper method. Committee therefore directed the managements of Engineering Colleges to adopt the procedure for selection of students to the Engineering Course for the academic year 2007-08 from the rank list prepared as per the result obtained in the Common Entrance Test conducted by the State Entrance Commissioner.

(3.) Senior counsel appearing for the petitioner attacked the above mentioned order on various grounds. Counsel submitted that this Court has already tested the validity of section 3 of Act 19 of 2006 in the light of T.MA. Pai Foundation's case cannot contend that the respondents have got power to insist that management should admit students only on the basis of the marks obtained by the candidates in the Entrance Examination Test conducted by the State. Counsel also referred to the report of Justice K.T.Thomas Committee and submitted that the committee had approved a system o selection for Engineering Colleges taking into consideration the marks obtained by the candidates for the CET conducted by the State, marks for the concerned subjects in the qualifying examinations and marks for interview. Counsel submitted that the petitioner is willing to drop the element of interview as a component to assess merit and also the marks obtained by the candidates for the concerned subjects in Standard X. Counsel further submitted that by adding the marks obtained by the candidates in the CET conducted by the State as well as the marks obtained by the candidates for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in Plus-two, the management could properly assess the merit of the candidates. Counsel submitted, adding of marks for the previous examinations will act as an equalizing factor and this has been considered as a better method by various reputed educational institutions in the country. Counsel submitted, many of the students from rural areas normally would not be able to prepare for the entrance test effectively due to lack of proper coaching for the examination and the marks obtained by the candidates in the Entrance Examination alone is not a proper indication of their merit. Further counsel submitted that if the proposal made by the petitioner is accepted it will help the rural middle class and poor students to get admission on the basis of their academic performance. Further counsel submitted that an equalization method will also be adopted. Counsel referred to a Division Bench judgment of the Madras High Court in Minor S. Aswin Kumar v. State of Tamil Nadu. 2007(2) CTC 677 and submitted that in the State of Tamil Nadu the entrance examination has been completely dispensed with an admissions to Engineering Colleges are made on the basis of the marks obtained in the qualifying examination.