Kerala HC dismisses CBSE students’ plea challenging prospectus for admission to professional courses

The Kerala High Court has dismissed a petition filed by a few CBSE students regarding the prospectus for admission to professional degree courses, 2026, issued by the Kerala government. The plea challenged the subject weightage and standardisation formula incorporated in the prospectus with regard to the preparation of the rank list for engineering courses.

The students submitted that the new standardised method created “great prejudice to the students of CBSE as it is implemented without any expert study.” In the entrance examination conducted in Kerala, a standardisation procedure was brought in 2012 to maintain uniformity among students from different boards like CBSE, ICSE, and the Kerala Board of Public Examination, and this procedure had continued till 2025.

The Commissioner for Entrance Examinations contended that the government was entitled to stipulate prescriptions in the prospectus reflecting its policy in matters regarding admission to professional courses. He also claimed that the new procedure would not put students at a disadvantage.

The Single Bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas remarked that the new scheme of standardisation was a matter of government policy, and the courts could only interfere in circumstances of explicit arbitrariness or prejudice. After examining the history of the standardisation system adopted by the government in 2012 and 2025, the court dismissed the petitions, saying that there was no dispute regarding the power of the government to change the scheme and the system of examination and evaluation, and hence the challenge by the students was not legally tenable.