Mumbai: The state govt is considering giving weightage to Class 12 marks in engineering and pharmacy admissions following a series of allegations over discrepancies between students’ Class 12 and CET scores.In a letter to the higher and technical education department, the state’s CET Cell has urged the govt to constitute an expert panel to review the eligibility criteria for the admissions based on MHT-CET scores. An official from the cell said they had pointed out to the department that the current criteria used to draw the merit list leave scope for suspicion among students and parents, despite there being no anomaly in the results.The official also pointed out that since Class 12 board marks carry no weightage in the admission process, students tend to focus heavily on entrance-test preparation and do not give equal importance to their board examinations.“Taking these concerns into account, we have requested the department to constitute a panel to review the criteria for preparing the merit list and work out an appropriate formula for giving due weightage to Class 12 marks,” the official said. “We have also asked the department to formulate a policy at the earliest so that students are informed well in advance.”For the past two to three years, the opposition has been raising questions over alleged discrepancies in the merit lists released ahead of engineering admissions. The issue resurfaced this year, with questions being raised over students who scored just 40-50% in their Class 12 board exams securing exceptionally high percentiles in MHT-CET.As many as 202 students who scored between the 98th and 100th percentile in MHT-CET had secured only 40-50% marks in PCM subjects in their Class 12 board exams. The state CET cell, however, dismissed the concerns, clarifying that there was no anomaly and that such variations are seen across entrance examinations and different score bands, and are not limited to candidates securing the highest percentiles.A department official told TOI that a committee will be constituted in the next few days and they will be given a mandate of 15 days to submit a report, so that a policy is drawn for the academic session 2027-28. “Students need to be informed so that they direct their preparation accordingly,” said the official. Some of the state university vice-chancellors have already been briefed about the need for the policy, he added.While NEET-UG requires students to secure at least 50% aggregate marks in PCB subjects in Class 12 to be eligible, the IITs and NITs require candidates to score a minimum of 75% in class XII or rank among the top 20 percentile of their respective boards. The state govt, however, has no such eligibility requirement. In 2022, the then education minister Uday Samant had announced a 50-50% weightage to Class 12 and entrance test scores. A committee was constituted to examine the issue, but no decision was taken following a change in govt.
