Aggrieved toppers allege unfair rank drop after High Court-mandated old normalisation formula. Petition to be filed in Supreme Court this week amid growing student outrage.
Thiruvananthapuram: A fresh legal storm is brewing in Kerala over engineering admissions, as a group of students from the state syllabus has decided to move the Supreme Court against the revised rank list prepared using the old normalisation formula.
This formula was brought back following a Kerala High Court judgment, and many students are now claiming that it has led to unfair results and a denial of equal justice.
These students had initially secured top positions in the merit list, but after the implementation of the High Court’s directive, they have seen their ranks drop significantly.
Feeling aggrieved and sidelined in the admission process, they are preparing to file a petition in the Supreme Court, likely by Monday or Tuesday.
They have been actively coordinating their efforts through a WhatsApp group and are being led by student leader Ajas Muhammad.
“We were waiting for a copy of the High Court order to initiate legal steps,”
said Ajas Muhammad, explaining their delay in approaching the apex court.
He added,
“What we will highlight in court is the denial of equal justice. Students who were among the toppers have dropped by thousands of ranks.”
The controversy erupted after the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) published a revised rank list in compliance with the Kerala High Court’s directive.
The High Court had earlier invalidated the previous rank list, which was created using a new normalisation method. The court ordered that a fresh list be prepared based on the old normalisation formula mentioned in the February prospectus.
This change has sparked widespread anxiety and dissatisfaction among students, especially those from the Kerala State Board and ICSE syllabus.
According to several students and parents, the reintroduction of the old formula has significantly impacted their scores.
In some cases, even students who had secured full marks in their Plus Two board exams lost up to 27 marks in the final normalised score, severely affecting their ranks and chances of getting into top engineering colleges.
Moreover, there are growing complaints that students were not properly informed about the changes made to the subject weightages, which also had an effect on their ranks. Many feel that this lack of communication further added to the confusion and unfairness of the situation.
In a significant development, while the affected students are preparing to approach the Supreme Court, the state government has decided not to challenge the High Court’s judgment. This has prompted the students to move independently, without state support.
Meanwhile, due to the ongoing legal complications, the Kerala government is planning to request the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to extend the deadline for engineering admissions beyond August 14. With the admission process in a state of uncertainty, this extension is seen as necessary to ensure that eligible students are not unfairly left out.
The first round of allotments based on option registration is scheduled for July 18, but it remains unclear whether this will proceed as planned.
Last year, the AICTE had extended the deadline to September 18, and the state is hoping for a similar extension this time to accommodate the legal delays.
This ongoing dispute highlights the challenges of ensuring fairness in entrance examinations and normalisation procedures, especially when multiple education boards and evaluation systems are involved.
With the matter now headed to the Supreme Court, thousands of engineering aspirants in Kerala await a resolution that will uphold transparency and equal opportunity.
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