Supreme Court Refuses To Interfere With KEAM Admission Process For Kerala Engineering, Architecture, Medicine Seats

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 16) clarified that it will not interfere with this year's admission process based on the revised mark list of the Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical (KEAM) entrance exam. At the same time, the Court agreed to hear the question of law raised regarding the power to change the formula to standardise the marks of different boards.

A bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandurkar was hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by some students of the State Board challenging the Kerala High Court's judgment which set aside the KEAM exam results on the ground that the standardisation formula as provided in the original prospectus was changed midway. Following the High Court's order, the State Government published revised results as per the unamended prospectus, leading to students of the CBSE board occupying most of the top ranks.

Declining the request made by Advocate Prashant Bhushan, the petitioners' lawyer, for an urgent hearing next week, the bench posted the matter after four weeks, asking the State to file its counter. "4 weeks! It is too long, kindly have it next week," Bhushan pleaded.  

At the outset, Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, for the State of Kerala, submitted that the State was not filing any petition against the High Court's order, as it does not want to delay the admission process. "Let me make it clear, we wanted to file an appeal but we didn't want to upset the process," Gupta said, adding that the State was supporting the petitioners' plea on merits.

The bench repeated the concern it raised yesterday regarding the Court's interference causing uncertainty in the minds of several students waiting for admission. 

"Mr.Prashant Bhushan, we are not inclined to interfere. But the question which needs to be reflected, we will examine, we will hear," Justice Narasimha. When Bhushan submitted that the question can be examined for this year also, the bench refused, saying it will "cause uncertainty."

"What I am requesting is, your lordships may hear it next week," Bhushan requested. "We don't have time," Justice Narasimha replied. "This will cause great injustice to the State Board students, it is a short point which can be heard next week," Bhushan submitted. However, the bench refused, and posted the matter after four weeks.

Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran appeared on caveat on behalf of certain students who secured positions based on the revised rank list.

Background

Before the High Court, a writ petition was filed challenging the last-minute changes to the original KEAM prospectus. The State of Kerala, on the date of publication of the rank list, amended the prospectus.

As per the amendment, the ratio of subject marks in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry was changed to 5:3:2 instead of the original 1:1:1 ratio. The weightage given to students from CBSE/ICSE syllabus was taken away by the State.

The single bench of Justice D.K. Singh thus set aside the rank list published as per the amended prospectus and directed that a new, revised rank list be published in accordance with the un-amended prospectus.

On appeal by the State of Kerala before the division bench, the bench of Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S said that it "finds no ground to interfere" with the reasoning of the single judge.

The present petition is filed by candidates from the State Higher Secondary Board who qualified the KEAM-2025 Exam and whose names were included in the rank list published on 01.07.2025 following the amendment made to the prospectus vide order dated 01.07.2025.

The main contention of the petitioners is threefold: (1) the amendment to the prospectus was done with the objective of "curing the defect of disparity caused by the earlier formula that put the State Board students at a disadvantageous position and as a result of the amendment all candidates, regardless of their respective 10+2 Board examination, would be treated equally";

(2) The old formula applied was "disproportionate and disadvantageous to the majority of students studying under the state syllabus in government schools. It is important to note that in Kerala government school students predominately come from middle- and lower-income backgrounds"; (3) cancellation of the results would result in "causing grave prejudice to the Petitioners herein by allowing the disparity that was sought to be rectified by the order dated 01.07.2025 to prevail to the peril of the Petitioners, denying them a level paying field".

The petition was filed through Zulfikar Ali PS AOR.

Case : Mufeeda P and others v. State of Kerala and others | Diary No. 37302-2025

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