The Hindu : JNTU stops minority colleges in their tracks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 12, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

JNTU stops minority colleges in their tracks

By J.S. Ifthekhar

HYDERABAD Feb. 11. Plans of the minority educational institutions to hold their own entrance tests for admission to professional courses have gone awry with the JNTU insisting on the EAMCET criteria.

In a notice issued to all its constituent and affiliated colleges, the JNTU has stated that no admission will be valid if the prescribed criteria of a pass in the qualifying examination and a rank in the EAMCET are not followed.

This has put paid to attempts of some Muslim minority colleges to conduct separate entrance tests. Even as the Government announced its decision to hold the EAMCET on April 26, some minority colleges came out with their "own entrance'' test schedule. This has caused utter confusion and unrest among the minority students as the separate entrance test is seen as a clever ploy to legalise backdoor admissions.

The minority colleges are going for self entrance tests under cover of the Supreme Court verdict which permitted unaided minority institutions to have their own procedure and method of admission. But the rider is such a procedure must be "fair and transparent'' and the selection should be on the basis of merit.

A track record of some of the minority institutions shows that the admission process here is anything but fair and transparent. Even with Government control and EAMCET ranking to follow these institutions have not refrained from indulging in irregularities and with no check and their own entrance test can they be expected to be fair and straight ? This is the million dollar question.

In the light of the JNTU notification, no admission will be valid if the EAMCET rank is not adhered to. The minority colleges intending to hold separate tests would have to seek permission from the JNTU, said C. Subba Rao, chairman, A.P. State Council for Higher Education.

Interestingly, colleges which held such entrance tests in the past have not declared the ranks. As a result the students have no way of seeking redressal of their grievances, much less challenging the managements decisions.

On the contrary when the minority colleges ignored EAMCET rank and merit, some students have sought justice and got it. They knocked the doors of the A.P. State Council for Higher Education, Minorities Welfare Department, Osmania Univeristy and courts.

In one particular case the Government issued instructions to the MCA convenor, Osmania University, directing that 11 Muslim students who were denied admissions by minority institutions, be adjusted into minority colleges by removing non-minority candidates. If the minority institutions are allowed to hold their own tests, the Government will have no say and the students will be left in a lurch, said Mohd. Fasiuddin, convenor, A.P. Minorities Educational Rights Protection Committee.

He further maintained that sufficient number of minority students are qualifying in the EAMCET but they are not able to get seats in the minority institutions since admissions here are held much before the Government counselling.

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