No CET For Class 11 Admissions; Admit Students Based On Class 10 Marks : Bombay High Court To Maharashtra Govt

"The state government does not have the power under law to issue such a notification and this court can intervene in extreme cases of gross injustice, such as this," a division bench of Justices RD Dhanuka and RI Chagla said.

The court refused to allow conduct of the CET scheduled for August 21. The bench asked the state government to start admission for class 11 by considering their class 10 marks and internal assessments and complete the admission process within a period of six weeks.

"If the CET is allowed to be held then a large number of students would be exposed and would face a threat to life. This would have a cascading effect," the bench said in its order.

The bench allowed Ananya Patki's petition, an ICSE Board student, who alleged that the CET, based only on Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education's (SSC) syllabus, violates her right to life and equality.

On August 7, the bench reserved orders on her plea following marathon arguments by the State and Advocate Yogesh Patki, the petitioner's father. During the hearing, the court inquired about the effect allowing the pleas would have.

The court also heard Senior Advocate Mihir Desai for four intervenors from the IGCSE Board and counsels for other Boards.

Advocate Patki argued that the state's decision regarding the exam date was conveyed on "short notice" on July 19 and nearly 16 lakh SSC students and 4 lakh ICSE or CBSE students were supposed to give the test offline.

Like several other ICSE and CBSE students, he alleged that his daughter had not opted for science (part of the SSC syllabus) in the past two years and therefore wouldn't want to give the CET. However, this would dim her prospects of getting into a good college even after scoring over 90% through internal evaluation.

Advocate General for the State Ashutosh Kumbhakoni vehemently argued that all students would get admission, but those who want colleges of their choice must take the CET.

Kumbhakoni argued that CET is a policy decision taken due to the pandemic with the consent of all the boards.

The court had earlier asked if it could have a separate syllabus for CBSE and ICSE students appearing for the CET.

On Friday, however, the CBSE said it was not able to give questions to the state board and therefore asked the government to continue evaluating students based on their Class X marks and delay holding the CET by a year.

Click Here To Read/ Download The Judgement