Kochi: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has informed the Kerala High Court that the deadline for completing the engineering admission cannot be extended.
If the AICTE extends the deadline for allotment, the Kerala government wanted the date for uploading plus-two marks on the website also to be extended. The last date for uploading the marks is Friday (September 17).
The court has reserved its verdict on the batch of petitions that sought the admission to be conducted only on the basis of the entrance exam this year and that the plus-two marks should not be considered.
Citing the 'Parshvanath Charitable Trust' case, the counsel for the AICTE informed the high court that the Supreme court had stated that engineering classes should begin on August 1 and that the schedule was revised in the wake of the special circumstances this year. Accordingly, the admission process has to start on October 1 and conclude on October 25.
The AICTE also conveyed that if the schedule has to be changed, the government has to approach the Supreme Court.
Justice P B Suresh Kumar is considering the petitions filed by the CBSE School Managements Association, the Association of Schools for the Indian School Certificate and a few students of the CBSE and ICSE.
While pointing out that the CBSE and ICSE exams were cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, the petitions contended that as the state exam valuation was lenient it is not practical to consider the plus-two marks.
Meanwhile, some petitioners argued that they should be given time to upload the marks of the CBSE and ICSE improvement exams, the results of which are yet to be declared.
The court also expressed concern over the deadline to upload marks getting lapsed even as the results of the improvement exam, conducted as per the Supreme Court-approved scheme, are yet to be declared.