Tamil Nadu: The Tamil Nadu government has finally announced on Tuesday that all students it will hold a common entrance test (CET) this year for admission to professional courses.
The exam is scheduled for May 13 and May 14 and the announcement ends weeks of uncertainty for the students.
Tamil Nadu chief Minister Jayalalithaa has said the Common Entrance Test for the state will be conducted after the Assembly elections.
"We cannot keep the students in a state of suspense. For this year, the CET would have to be conducted. But, to give time to the students, it would be conducted after the Assembly elections," she said.
Going back on its decision to do away with the CET in respect of state board students, the government said the test was applicable to all students including those belonging to the state board.
An official release here said the government had instructed the Anna University to conduct the CET.
The state government had earlier abolished the test for those appearing in the class 12 exams under the state board by passing an act.
While the government issued an order on June 9 last year to abolish the CET for the year 2005, it came out with a special law this year to do away with the CET in respect of students who came under the state board.
However, both the Government order and the legislation could not stand the scrutiny of law.
Madras High Court refused to uphold 2005's order on legal grounds and in the absence of a Supreme Court stay on the operation of the order, the government had no option but to hold CET for academic year 2005.
The state government appealed to the Supreme Court where the matter is now pending.
SC on Monday refused to stay the Madras High Court order and will hear the case again on the April 13, 2006.
Last year, the situation was even worse as the government came out with an order abolishing CET after Anna University conducted the entrance test and released the rank list.
In the backdrop of series of agitations by the Pattali Makkal Katchi and demands from the DMK, the main opposition party, the government cancelled the CET and decided to provide admission to students based on Plus Two marks. The affected students petitioned the court and obtained relief.
The CET was in vogue in the state for more than two decades, since it was introduced by former chief minister M G Ramachandran in the 1980s.
While there was not much competition for engineering seats with the mushrooming of colleges, the competition had been stiff for medical seats. Of about six lakh students, only about 1,200 get selected for Medicine.
(With inputs from UNI)
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