Petition before HC on Common Entrance Tests

Chennai, May 22 (UNI) A petition has been filed before Madras High Court challenging the order of the Permanent Committee headed by Mr Justice S S Subramani for conducting Common Entrance Tests, imposing conditions on self-financing professional colleges to follow the single window system and admission after following reservation rules.

The petition by the consortium of self-financing professional arts and science colleges in Tamil Nadu is likely to come up for hearing tomorrow.

The consortium said in 2004-05, it filed an application seeking permission to conduct the CET for management quota. The committee granted permission with certain conditions.

This was challenged before the High Court, which held that such directions would be invalid and would affect the right of autonomy available to private unaided institutions.

Against this, the committee and the State filed a SLP before the Supreme Court, which were pending. There was no stay. So, the committee ought to have followed the High Court direction and should not have driven the consortium to again go for litigation, it said.

The Apex court had already held that Managements could not be compelled to follow reservations.

The members of the petitioner consortium agreed to surrender 50 per cent seats to the State, and for this it was possible to apply rules of reservation.

The terms said if the option of conducting a test by the Association of Colleges or adopting the test conducted by the State through Anna University was not exercised before May 30 this year, seats available with the Management would revert as State quota.

This interfered with autonomy, the consortium said and sought to stay the order of the permanent committee dated May nine this year.

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