Bombay HC reserves order on petition challenging CET for FYJC admissions

Counsels for various boards said as the decision to conduct the CET was taken by the state government, they could not interfere

The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday reserved its order on the petition filed by an ICSE board student, Ananya Patki, who challenged the common entrance test (CET) for admission to first-year junior college (FYJC) scheduled to be held on August 21. The counsel for the petitioner argued that as the questions for CET would be based on state board syllabus, it would prejudice students from other boards, hence the CET should be set aside.

Bombay High Court.

Counsels for various boards said as the decision to conduct the CET was taken by the state government, they could not interfere. They, however, said the government should have consulted them before announcing the decision.

The division bench of justice RD Dhanuka and justice RI Chagla was informed by advocate Yogesh Patki, the petitioners’ father, that the test was discriminatory as it would be based on SSC board syllabus. He also submitted that as the test would be held in the physical format during Covid, it could pose a threat to the students.

Patki questioned the need for the test and citing this year Class 10 and 12 exams did not take place. He further said the July 19 notification announcing the CET was issued in a haphazard manner and did not have any clarity. He added that the time to prepare for the exam was insufficient.

The government defended its decision to conduct CET in offline mode for FYJC admission and told the court the test was optional and was being conducted to bring parity among students from various boards. It assured the court that as some boards had conducted exams physically in February without getting any reports of students contracting Covid-19, the state would ensure that all Covid protocols were followed during the two-hour test.

It also submitted the CET was aimed at safeguarding the rights of all students, hence contentions of the petitioner, who was not representing students from all non-SSC boards, did not hold ground and should be dismissed.

While arguing for one of the boards, senior advocate Mihir Desai said the CET was being conducted as SSC exams had not been conducted by most boards, but IGCSE board had conducted the exams physically in February, hence students from that board would be at a disadvantage.

He further said the state had, in the past, tried to introduce procedures to bring SSC board students at par with students from other boards while seeking FYJC and with the exception of best of five, all other procedures introduced by the state were struck down by the HC. He added that as the state had not consulted other boards before announcing the CET, other boards were feeling orphaned.

While responding to the concerns raised by the petitioner and the boards, advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said as the petition had only sought quashing of the exam and not suggested any alternative remedy to the need to bring parity among students from various boards, the petition should be dismissed.

He added that the petitioner was a lone student and was not representing all students from various boards, hence the court should not be taking an adverse decision against the conduct of the CET as nearly 1.075 million students from across boards had registered for the CET.

He also said the state had introduced Central Admission Programme (CAP) to ensure that merit and choice of students were given preference and hence the CET had to be conducted to decide merit as different boards had evaluated students differently and no standard evaluation process was adopted. “Golden rule is merit-cum-choice... CET is to determine merit and CAP is to determine choice,” said Kumbhakoni.

He concluded his argument saying as seats for select colleges were limited like that of medical courses, CET for FYJC admissions was necessary.

After hearing all sides, the court reserved its order and will pronounce it on August 10.