Hyderabad: The decision of Telangana government to go ahead with its own schedule of common entrance tests for admission to professional and higher educational institutions has sparked a new round of confrontation with Andhra Pradesh government.
Both the states were claiming to be within their rights to conduct the common entrance tests (CETs) for various courses under the AP State Reorganisation Act. While Andhra Pradesh had conducted last year’s common entrance test, first after the bifurcation, Telangana government has set up its own State Council of Higher Education to conduct tests like Eamcet, Icet etc.
As soon as the Telangana government announced the scheduled of common entrance tests, Andhra Pradesh minister for human resources Ganta Srinivas Rao rushed to the Raj Bhavan to lodge a complaint with the state governor ESL Narasimhan. “The move of Telangana government is against the AP Reorganisation Act. They must realise Telangana is also part of India”, he said strongly protesting against the schedule announced by the state government.
“TSCHE has no legal sanctity. I brought this to the notice of the governor”, Srinivas Rao said. He sought governor support to the idea of common tests for both the states. The state will raise the issue with the federal government, he added.
As per the schedule Telangana will conduct Eamcet or common entrance test for admission into medical, engineering and agriculture colleges on May 14. The schedule also include common entrance tests for law, education, MBA and other courses between May 19 and June 6.
Defending the schedule Telangana State Council of Higher Education T Papi Reddy said the council was the competent authority to conduct the common entrance tests under the AP Reorganisation Act. “Even the students from Andhra Pradesh can also compete for the 15 per cent of seats in Telangana under non local quota”, he said.
Papi Reddy said the reorganisation act talks of common admission and not of common tests for both the states.
Reddy found fault with Andhra Pradesh government for unilaterally announcing the schedule of CETs without consulting Telangana government. As per the schedule of AP government, it will conduct the Eamcet, the most sought after test in both the states on May 10. It also announced the dates for various other CETs.
Unless the state governor steps in and clarifies the position, the two separate schedules by the two governments was likely to leave the student fraternity completely confused.
Admission to higher educational institutions is one of the many contentious issues facing the two states since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in June last year through an act of Parliament. They were also fighting on the issue of sharing of river water and electricity among other things.
