KEAM 2025 Results: Kerala HC dismisses state’s appeal against rank list cancellation

Kochi: The Kerala High Court’s division bench on Thursday dismissed the state government's appeal against the cancellation of the KEAM 2025 rank list, upholding a single bench decision that had declared the amended prospectus and resulting rank list invalid.

A division bench comprising Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S found no grounds to interfere with the earlier order, stating that the government had acted beyond the recommendations of its own expert committee when it changed the standardisation formula.

The court noted that while the KEAM 2025 process began based on the original prospectus, a revised formula for normalising +2 marks in the ratio of 5:3:2 for Maths, Physics, and Chemistry was introduced through an amended prospectus just an hour before the rank list was published. The original ratio was 1:1:1.

The bench observed that the expert committee had only recommended reducing the number of years considered for standardisation and possibly shifting to a 60:40 weightage between entrance marks and +2 scores. However, there was no recommendation to implement the 5:3:2 formula.
“The report relied on by the advocate general does not support the government’s decision to adopt an entirely different standardisation procedure,” the bench remarked.

Disparity to state syllabus students cited
During the hearing, the Advocate General argued that the amendment aimed to correct a disparity faced by state syllabus students and that Clause 1.6 of the prospectus allowed the government to make changes if necessary.

He said that the new formula was selected from five options proposed by the expert committee and was intended to create a level playing field.

However, opposing counsels argued that the sudden change, made without disclosure of any compelling public interest or data-backed justification, unfairly benefited Kerala syllabus students while disadvantaging those from CBSE and ICSE backgrounds.

Rank list issued immediately after amendment
A respondent’s counsel pointed out that the rank list was published just one hour after the government issued the amended prospectus, questioning the feasibility of generating the list in such a short span without premeditated calculations.

He also noted that the original method of assigning equal value to all three core subjects had been in practice since 2011, and the committee had not endorsed any change for the current year. Instead, it had advised that new formulas be tested thoroughly before implementation.

The court also questioned the rationale for adopting the 5:3:2 formula without direct backing from the expert committee’s report.

A counsel representing CBSE students said the change was not mandated by the expert panel and that no evidence had been submitted to show the older method caused injustice.

The controversy began when the state government amended the KEAM 2025 prospectus shortly before releasing the rank list. The amendment changed the normalisation weightage for the +2 marks of core subjects to 5:3:2, replacing the long-standing 1:1:1 ratio.

The single judge had found this move to be arbitrary, illegal, and disadvantageous to students from national boards. The judge set aside both the amended prospectus and the rank list and directed the government to publish a fresh list based on the original criteria.

The state challenged this ruling through a writ appeal, which the High Court has now dismissed. "We find no ground to interfere with the reasoning of the single judge," the division bench concluded.

The court said it would detail all findings in its full judgment.
(With LiveLaw inputs.)