Move to scrap sports cut off challenged in HC
Joint Admission Committee’s (JAC) decision of having the same cut-off for general as well as sports quota for the region’s five reputed engineering institutes and the lone architecture college has been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Joint Admission Committee’s (JAC) decision of having the same cut-off for general as well as sports quota for the region’s five reputed engineering institutes and the lone architecture college has been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Taking up the petition filed by three sportspersons who are engineering college aspirants, the high court issued a notice of motion to the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) and the JAC through its chairman in Dr SS Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Panjab University on Wednesday.
A Hindustan Times’ report ‘Move to scrap separate cutoff for sports draws flak’ (June 16) had highlighted how, for the first time, the JAC, had refused to have a separate cut-off for the sports quota. In its recent decision, the committee had decided to keep 62 marks in All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) as the eligibility condition for both sports as well as general quota.
The counsel for the petitioners, advocate VD Sharma submitted that the three petitioners, national-level lawn tennis players, had passed their CBSE Class 12 examination with 74.2%, 63.8% and 69.4%.
The petitioners contended JAC cannot fix the same cut-off for the general as well as sports quota, arguing that the same would result in waning interest in sports as student swould then focus only on their studies. The petitioners, who had scored less than 62 marks in AIEEE, have sought the quashing of the 62 marks criteria set by JAC for the sports quota candidates.
It was submitted that, on perusal of the information brochure issued for JEE-Main 2014 and eligibility conditions imposed by JAC-2014, admission to BE/BTech and BArch/ BPlanning was to be based on the marks secured in the entrance examination and Class 12 and had no condition on fixing cutoff marks.
“Also, the inter-se merit of the sportspersons will not be determined on the basis of All India Rank but on the basis of gradation certificates issued by sports authorities,” it was submitted.
CBSE had conducted the AIEEE in April for which the results were declared on July 7. Online registration for counselling in colleges under JAC was held from July 8 to 13 but petitioners’ registration was not accepted.
The colleges under the JAC are Dr SS Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Panjab University; Chandigarh (formerly known as department of Chemical Engineering and Technology); University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Panjab University; PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh; (formerly Punjab Engineering College); Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, Sector 26, Chandigarh; University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Panjab University; SSG Regional Centre, Hoshiarpur and Chandigarh College of Architecture.