State says no to single CET

The Karnataka government today said it was not in favour of a single common entrance test (CET) at the state level for admissions to professional courses, as it would not benefit the state students.

The government had no objection to the existing system of CET conducted by the Karnataka Examination Authority and COMED-K, a consortium of private medical, engineering and dental colleges in the state, Higher Education Minister Dr V S Acharya told reporters here.

Acharya said about 175,000 Karnataka students appear for the state-run CET and a meagre 1 per cent of the state’s students appear for COMED-K. The COMED-K test is for all India students and majority of them are from outside, he pointed out.

“Our concern is protecting state’s quota of 50 per cent seats in engineering courses and 42 per cent in medical courses in private colleges for the benefit of our students,” he said.

Acharya said the state had so far released Rs 15 crore towards fee subsidy to SC/ST and OBC students since the 2006 academic yearof the total dues of Rs 26 crore.

The government had cleared the fee subsidy arrears till 2009 and for 2010, the remaining amount would also be released.