Karnataka engineering admission put off as CET repeaters protest ‘unfair’ ranks

The new date will be announced shortly, the KEA said.

Protests by students and parents demanding “justice for repeaters” swelled in front of the KEA office in Malleswaram on Monday. The protesters said the KEA had “assured” that it would consider 50 per cent of PUC marks and 50 per cent of the CET marks to decide a candidate’s overall rank. However, it turned out that evaluation for repeaters was done based only on their CET marks.

The PUC department had passed all students in 2021 in light of the pandemic. As a result, CET ranks in 2021 were based on 100 per cent CET results. The PUC students who took a gap year to better their ranks and appeared for the entrance test this year felt let down as they were ranked based only on their CET scores.

Rathna, mother of Chetan Gowda, said her son scored 103 in CET this year and got a rank of 66,623. However last year, he scored 77 in CET and secured a rank of 19,700. “My son had asked the KEA officials about considering the PUC marks for CET ranking and we got a positive response from the authorities. It was on the basis of this response that he took the CET for the second time, in case he does not make the cut in NEET. He ended up getting a low rank despite getting a good score in the CET because the PUC marks were not considered,” said Rathna, adding that her son was now in a quandary where he would find a good college for neither engineering nor medicine.

A CET candidate from Bengaluru, who did not wish to be named, took a gap year to better the rank. Speaking to indianexpress.com, the student said, “There was no mention in any notification or order that PUC marks would not be considered. This made me take the CET once again to better my ranking. However, I ended up with a rank of over 1 lakh with a CET score of 72 this year. Last year I scored 65 in the CET with a rank of 42,000. With a rank of over 1 lakh, how am I supposed to get a college of good quality?” asked the student.

Parents and students also alleged that the evaluation for repeaters from the CBSE stream, however, was based on the 50 per cent of their board exam marks and the 50 per cent of their CET score. KEA authorities have now confirmed their evaluation will be reviewed. It also said that close to an unusually high 24,000 students repeated the CET this year.

Parents have also decided to move court to seek a stay on the verification process. Said Poornima S, mother of Sinchan K N, a candidate, “We decided to move court when the KEA told us that they are not ready to consider PUC marks for repeaters. Parents or students were not aware at any stage that PUC marks won’t have any bearing on the CET ranking. It is not one or two students, but close to 24,000 students who repeated the exam are in the same situation. The matter can be solved only by a court now.”