Govt to reconsider CET if it affects rural students

Bangalore, May 7 (UNI) The Karnataka government was open for the discontinuation of Common Entrance Test (CET) if it affected students from the rural areas, Higher Education Minister D H Shankara Murthy said here today.

Speaking to newspersons he said there were apprehensions that holding CET rendered injustice to the students from rural areas and the recent Madras High Court verdict on the issue had justified it.

The CET for the coming academic year is slated to be held in 205 centres across the state on Wednesday, in which over 1.05 lakh students were expected to take part.

Stating that the state was always open to correct anomalies in such competitive examinations he said, ''If Madras Court's decision was questioned at the Apex Court, Karnataka would abide by its (Supreme Court's) verdict,'' he said.

He said that elaborate arrangements had been made to hold the CET at all centres and results would be announced on May 25. About 40,000 free seats would be offered under state quota in various engineering colleges, besides Medical and Dental seats, in both private and government run institutions.

The state government would start five new engineering colleges four of which would come up in border towns like Raichur, Chamarajanagar, Kushalnagar and Bellary. The government had cleared proposal to start a private engineering college at Shimoga, he said.

Replying to questions the Minister said the government had simplified the fee structure for 2007-08 and implemented uniform fees to avail state quota seats in both Engineering and Medical institutions.

The state had fixed Rs 25,000 for an Engineering seat and Rs 35,000 for Medical under government's free seat quota, he said.

UNI