PILs seek nod for offline mode for engineering admissions process in TN

Two public interest litigations were filed in the Madras High Court today seeking that counselling and admission process for engineering courses in Tamil Nadu be conducted both in online and offline modes.

A vacation bench of justices V Bharathidasan and N Seshasayee issued notice to the Higher Education Department Secretary and Anna University on the PILs returnable by a week.

In their pleas, CVMP Ezhilarasan, a DMK MLA representing Kancheepuram constituency, and P Ponpandian, an advocate, claimed the online mode of counselling and admission process introduced by the university would be a disadvantage to students from rural areas.

According to the petitioners, students from rural areas lacked English and computer knowledge required to apply and attend counselling online.

As the process involved filling applications, scanning relevant documents and uploading them online, the petitioners claimed that many rural areas of Tamil Nadu lacked such facilities.

This apart, as the entire process would take at least four months to complete, till such time students would be required to check for notifications and results online which is practically not possible for rural students, the petitioners submitted.

Hence, they wanted the court to direct the university to conduct the admission process right from application stage till counselling through both online and offline modes.

Anna University commenced online registration for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission today.