The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed state entrance authorities to allow three CBSE Class 12 students, including one residing in the United Arab Emirates, to upload their reevaluated marks to the state’s professional college admission portal.
Under the court’s order, the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations must accept the revised marks of the three petitioners if they are submitted by 12:30 p.m. on July 13. The authorities must then recalculate the Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical (KEAM) rank list using these updated scores. To prevent disruption to the ongoing admission cycle, the students’ updated ranks will only apply from the second seat allotment round onward, with no retroactive benefits for the first round.
Flawed Evaluation Process
The three students sought judicial intervention after receiving their reevaluated board marks from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) after the KEAM rank list was finalized and published on June 27. The petitioners contended that their initial marks were significantly lower than expected due to systemic grading errors by the CBSE, which severely impacted their entrance ranks.
The court agreed with the petitioners, describing their situation as exceptional. In its observation, the court pointed out that the CBSE’s initial grading process this year suffered from significant technical glitches. These issues included swapped answer sheets and poorly scanned pages resulting from a newly implemented digital scanning system. The court ruled that the students should not be penalized for administrative and technical failures outside their control, especially since they approached the legal system without delay.
State Administrative Concerns
The Kerala state government opposed the students’ petitions, arguing that the admission timeline had already been extended. According to state representatives, the deadline for uploading marks was extended twice to accommodate CBSE students, finally closing on June 23.
State officials argued that reopening the rank list after the seat allotment process began on July 8 would throw the entire statewide admission schedule into chaos. They maintained that the finalized list should not be altered for individual candidates once the process was underway.
Prioritizing Merit Over Convenience
While acknowledging that managing state admissions is a highly complex and laborious task, the High Court emphasized that administrative difficulties should not compromise student merit. The court stated that qualified candidates who acted swiftly to resolve the issue deserved relief.
To balance individual merit with administrative stability, the court ruled that only the three petitioners would be permitted to upload their revised scores, explicitly barring any other candidates from doing so. By restricting the students’ participation to the second allotment round, the court ensured that the initial stage of admissions would proceed without interruption.
