Higher education council in a fix

Legal tangles have thrown the plans of the State Higher Education Council out of gear and the apex body could not make any move on key issues in engineering admissions front. As per the directive of the High Court, the government counsel has submitted its written arguments on Monday before the two-judge bench. The officials of the council are hopeful of a ruling from the High court in few days. The case is related to making admissions for category B seats through online system. While the government has been insisting on going ahead with the online system, the private college managements are stoutly opposing it. The Council could not take some policy decisions such as amending the GO 66 and 67 which is linked to GO 74- both of them related to admissions under management quota. It could not amend another GO (No 76), issued last year giving priority to JEE rankers of other states ahead of Eamcet rankers. As per the GO, NRIs would be the top priority, followed by AIEEE rankers from other states and then comes EAMCET rankers followed by admissions under only Intermediate marks basis. "We have formally decided to amend it but could not do it due to ongoing legal issues" Prof P Jayaprakasha Rao told The Hans India. Engineering admissions for category-A (convener quota) seats also could not be taken up as it is linked to Category-B. The Council which has been engrossed with the fee issue for over three months now could not concentrate on other issues relating to academic matters. Government has also not finalised the quantum of amount that is to be earmarked for the reimbursement for the academic year 2013-14. Over two lakh students have been waiting for the release of counseling notifications.