In a major setback to the Kerala government’s new evaluation policy for engineering admissions, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday quashed the KEAM 2025 rank list and directed authorities to issue a revised version. The court found that the last-minute alteration in the scoring formula had unfairly disadvantaged CBSE students.
The verdict, delivered by Justice D.K. Singh, came in response to a petition filed by Hana Fathima, a Plus Two student from the CBSE stream, who challenged the revised formula used in preparing the rank list for the Kerala Engineering, Architecture, and Medical (KEAM) entrance exam.
The state government had introduced the new evaluation method while addressing longstanding complaints from Kerala syllabus students, who alleged that the earlier consolidation of Plus Two and entrance exam marks unfairly benefited CBSE students—by as much as 15 to 20 marks. The revised formula attempted to equalize the scoring, giving greater parity to Kerala state board students.
However, the High Court found the government’s move problematic, noting that the change was made at the final stage of the admission process without adequate notice. The court ruled that this last-minute amendment to the prospectus was unjustified and adversely impacted CBSE students by reducing their previously held advantage in the consolidated scores.
“The method adopted by the state has deprived CBSE students of their rightful weightage,” the court observed while ordering that the KEAM rank list be re-evaluated in accordance with the original rules outlined in the admission prospectus.
