A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday directed the State government to accept applications submitted by CBSE X school based examination passed students for getting admission to higher secondary class for year 2013-2014 on the basis of merit.
The Bench comprising Justice M. L. Joseph Francis and Justice B. Kemal Pasha issued the interim order on a petition filed by a group of students and Muslim Service Society challenging the government order restraining the CBSE students who had passed class X school based examination from applying for senior secondary courses through single window admission system.
The petitioners said that no reason had been given for incorporating such a particular clause. It was highly arbitrary, discriminatory, illegal and in violation of the constitutional safeguard provided under Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
They pointed out that when the same issue had cropped up before the court last year, the government had filed an affidavit saying that there was no justification for keeping away the CBSE students who had passed through school based examination from the single window admission system. As of now there was no change of circumstances which warrants a change of the declared policy of the government when admission process to higher secondary classes for 2013-2014 had begun.
The petitioners pointed out that the government during the previous year had permitted the CBSE students to file applications for admission to higher secondary classes through the single window system. Even the statistics of admission would show that even the permission given to CBSE students for applying during the last academic year had not affected the prospects of the students who have passed through State SSLC stream.
If the State Board, which was one among the existing 41 Boards, rejected the certificates issued by the CBSE, it would lead to rejection of similar certificates by other Boards including CBSE. And as a result, the students passing SSLC would not be in a position to apply for admission to the higher secondary courses under the CBSE and other Boards. So, the petitioners sought to quash the government order.
