The State government on Wednesday said there would be no change in the eligibility marks prescribed for admission to engineering courses in Tamil Nadu for the coming academic year.
The government had fixed the minimum marks at 50 per cent for general category students, 45 per cent for those from the Backward Classes, 40 for those from the Most Backward Classes and denotified communities and 35 per cent for Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe students for 2010-11.
An official press release said here that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi ordered that these eligibility marks continue for 2011-12.
The decision comes in the wake of an order by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), asking States to prescribe 50 per cent as the eligibility marks for general category students and 45 per cent for students enjoying reservations for the coming academic year.
“If these new norms are followed, students belonging to the SC/ST communities, MBCs and denotified communities, besides rural students, will be adversely affected and our social justice policy rendered meaningless,” the government said.
Welcoming the State government stand, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S Ramadoss said the AICTE should withdraw its order.
