The Supreme Court on Wednesday clarified that it would not disrupt this year’s KEAM admission process, which is based on a revised rank list. The Court, however, agreed to consider the legal question of whether the formula used to standardise marks across different boards could be modified during the evaluation process.

A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandurkar heard a Special Leave Petition filed by students from the Kerala State Board. These petitioners challenged the Kerala High Court’s order which invalidated the earlier rank list on the ground that the standardisation method, as stated in the original prospectus, had been altered midway.

Kerala government refrains from appeal to avoid delay

The Kerala government, represented by Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, informed the Court that it would not challenge the High Court’s verdict. Though it had initially considered an appeal, the State decided against it to ensure that the admission schedule proceeded without disruption. However, the government expressed support for the petitioners’ plea on the merits of the issue.

Court declines urgent hearing plea from petitioners

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, requested that the matter be heard urgently next week. The Court refused, stating that such interference might create uncertainty among thousands of students awaiting admission. Despite Bhushan’s repeated insistence that the matter was brief and critical for State Board students, the bench posted the case for hearing after four weeks and directed the State to file a counter-affidavit in the meantime.

Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran appeared on caveat on behalf of students who had benefited under the revised rank list.