EAMCET-3 to be conducted in August amid protest from students and parents

Telangana: The recent update on EAMCET-2 indicates that the exam has been cancelled and, now EAMCET-3 is expected to be held in August. The state government took this decision after the reports of the question paper leak of EAMCET 2 surfaced. For EAMCET-3 now, students have been given exemption of fees. The results are likely to be announced in September. However, an official notification on the matter is expected only by Monday.

According to the sources, the Chief Minister K Chandrashekhara Rao has favored to cancel the EAMCET-2 exam after discussing with ministers, senior officials and Vice Chancellors, who suggested KCR to scrap the exam and re-conduct afresh.

The government took the bold decision amid protests by students and parents. Officials implied that if EAMCET-2 is not cancelled, then the state government may have to deal with legal problems. The decision to re-conduct the exam was therefore taken after submission of report by CID by the CM.

The MCI norms allow UG medical course admissions to be completed by September 30. According to the MCI norms, EAMCET-3 should be held in August, following with the ranker's announcement. Another ten days would be required to verify the certificates and 20 days more to conduct 3 stages of counseling. The state government has also been grated 10 days grace period by the apex court to complete the procedure for UG medical admissions.

Legal experts' opinion on the matter

The legal experts have implied that that EAMCET-2 should be cancelled even if it means that only one student got hold of the paper before the exam.

However, rankers and majority of qualifiers have demanded that admission process be continued and that the exam should not be cancelled.

Rajeshwar Tiwari, Principal Secretary at Medical and Health Department, implied that there should be no sympathy ground for the fact that there has indeed been a question paper leak. The laws clearly imply that the exam has to be cancelled if such an incident happens.

As per a media report, at one point of discussion, KCR thought of postponing the decision to Monday and decide later after taking legal opinion. Because, some senior officials expressed their opinions on EAMCET-2 in the meeting with KCR. According to the sources, they favored going ahead with EAMCET-2 as it's involved with future of 56,000 students. Some officials told KCR that it's not good to cancel the exam as it affects 56,000 students, but those involved in this are numbering to 150. Subsequently, the Chief Minister KCR has decided to consult senior advocates at High Court and Supreme Court and other legal experts as well. However, KCR has decided to cancel the EAMCET-2 and reconduct the exam.

It was also reported earlier that the CM was in favor of cancellation of EAMCET-2, even before referring the decision to the Law department. "Even parents who were involved in purchasing question papers from fraudsters should not be spared. Everyone involved in this scam have to face severe consequences. We should initiate such severe action against them that it will create a sense of fear among those who try to resort to such exam-related malpractices in future," Mr. Rao said to Deccan Chronicle.

It is also reported that Mr. Rao initially suggested going ahead with medical admission basis of EAMCET-2. He also implied that students found guilty in the paper leak case be declared as 'ineligible'.

The final call on the matter was expected to be taken by the Law department. CM was present during a meeting with inquiry officials of the Crime Investigation Department, Health and Education departments, with a purpose to review the key developments in the paper leak scam.

It is further reported that during the meeting the state government's role, the universities and earlier court judgments, was taken into strong consideration; before arriving at a decision.

Officials suggested (HI) to the Chief Minister that the government would face major legal hurdles if any of the candidates approached the courts challenging the admissions done on the ranks secured in Eamcet-II.

Education experts opine that NO fresh notification may be issued following the cancellation of EAMCET-2. The fee has also been waived off for EAMCET-3

JNTU-H Vice Chancellor Venugopal Reddy is under consideration for appointing Convener for EAMCET-3. Registrar Yadaiah is also under consideration as he has been serving as Convener for ECET for long. The Telangana government is considering Yadaiah as his vast experience is helpful in completing the EAMCET-3 as per the schedule.

Fee-waived off - Students don't have to pay fee for EAMCET-3. The state government will also provide free transport to exam centres. The CM opined that students have already suffered losses because of paying for the exam twice

The CM has also implied that a possibility to conduct the exam online, in a similar pattern to, GRE, JEE should be explored.

Students under stress

Students and parents are reported to be under severe stress, even thinking on the possibility of appearing for another exam. Now that the decision has been taken, the parents and students had earlier met Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister, Kadiam Srihari Mr. Srihari, who in turn had assured them that justice will be given to the students.

Students said it was not fair to punish all for the crimes of a few. "Only those identified by the CID must be disqualified and the rest should be allowed to appear for counseling and the rest of the admission process. It is not correct if the government decides to disqualify all the students," said P. Sreeja, a student from Hanamkonda to Deccan Chronicle.

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