The Karnataka High Court on Monday set aside the rule stating that securing 50 per cent marks in the English paper in the entrance test is compulsory to become eligible for admission to MBBS course under the management quota seats for 2015-16.
The court had directed the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) and other authorities to consider the case of four students, who had moved the court, for admission to the MBBS course solely based on their marks secured in Physics, Chemistry and Biology (PCB).
A Division Bench, comprising Justice N. Kumar and Justice G. Narendar, passed the order while allowing petitions filed by Sahana R, Karthikeyan and Kevin Germanus K., all from Tamil Nadu, and Madala Venkata Akshay of Andhra Pradesh.
This verdict could impact admissions made to the MBBS course under management quota as the court has held as “arbitrary” the rule related to English language entrance test of the COMEDK, which had conducted the entrance test for management quota seats. As per the rule, the marks secured in the English test were not considered for determination of candidates’ rank, and was only based on the marks secured in the PCB subjects. However, the general merit candidates should have secured not less than 50 per cent marks in the English language entrance test to become eligible for allotment of a rank based on their marks secured in the PCB subjects. Similarly, the SC, ST and OBC candidates of Karnataka were required to secure 40 per cent marks in English test for allotment of rank.
The court upheld the contentions of the petitioner-candidates that COMEDK’s English language rule was discriminatory as it was applicable only for the 40 per cent of the MBBS seats for which the candidates were admitted. The petitioners had pointed out that there was no English language entrance test for candidates who were selected for the remaining 60 per cent of seats, which were filled through the government quota, the institutional preference and the NRI quotas.
