R.V. Raveendran, J. - (1.) Leave granted. Heard. The question involved in these appeals is whether the eligibility criteria for admission to the Engineering courses stipulated under the Statutory Rules and Regulations of the State Government/University could be relaxed or ignored, and candidates who do not meet with such eligibility criteria can be given admission, on the ground that a large number of seats have remained unfilled in professional colleges, if such candidates possess the minimum eligibility prescribed under the norms of the central body (AICTE).
(2.) All India Council for Technical Education (Rs. AICTE for short) is the council established under the All India Council for Technical Education Act, 1987 (Rs. AICTE Act for short) for proper planning and coordinated development of technical education throughout the country. AICTE is entrusted the function of laying down the norms and standards for courses, curricula, quality instructions, assessment and examinations. As per the norms fixed by AICTE, the minimum eligibility for admission to engineering courses, during the academic year 2007-2008 was 35% in the qualifying examinations in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics for candidates belonging to schedule castes and schedule tribes and 40% for all other candidates.
(3.) The Appellant - Visveswaraya Technological University (for short Rs. the University) is the examining body and affiliating authority for Technical Educational Institutions in the State of Karnataka established under the Visveswaraya Technological University Act, 1994 (Rs. VTU Act for short). Section 20(1) of the VTU Act empowers the Executive Council of the University to make regulations regarding admission of students and conduct of examinations. The Executive Council, on the recommendation of the Academic Senate resolved to recommend the fixing of minimum eligibility for admissions to B.E./B. Tech courses as 45% for general category and 40; for reserved category in the qualifying examination, from the academic year 2006-07, on the following reasoning: The eligibility for the students for admission to B.E. course was 50% in the qualifying examination up to the academic year 2002-03. As the admission are through the Common Entrance Test of the Government or a Common Management Admission Test, the AICTE relaxed the eligibility criteria to 35% from the year 2003-04 onwards. Many colleges represented to the University that the lowering of the eligibility criteria gave scope for less meritorious students to get into the professional courses leading to deterioration in first and second year examination results. Many of the students were finding it difficult even to obtain the eligibility for the third semester. In view of it, in order to improve the standards of engineering degree course by providing admission to such of the students who can withstand the stress of the professional courses, it is necessary to fix the minimum eligibility as 45% in the qualifying examination for general category candidates and 40% in the qualifying examination for reserved category candidates, from the academic year 2006-07. Consequently the University Regulations governing BE/B. Tech degree courses were amended and the amended Regulations are extracted below: O.B.2.1 Admission to first year, first semester bachelor degree in Engineering/Technology shall be open for the candidates who have passed the second year Pre-University or XII Standard or equivalent examination recognized by the University. O.B.2.2 In addition to OB 2.1, the candidate shall have secured not less than forty five percent (45%) marks in the aggregate with Physics and Mathematics as compulsory subjects, along with one of the following subjects: Chemistry, Bio-Technology, Computer Science, Biology and Electronics. Provided that, the minimum marks for the purpose of eligibility shall be forty percent (40%) in optional subjects in case of candidates belonging to SC/ST and OBC. Provided that, the candidate shall have studied and passed English as one of the subjects. Thus the University fixed a marginally higher eligibility criteria, that is 40; for candidates belonging to schedule castes and schedule tribes and 45% for others, as against 35% and 40% respectively suggested by the AICTE norms. ;