In a major development, the Kerala High Court has cancelled the KEAM 2025 engineering rank list, leaving thousands of students and their families in a state of uncertainty. This decision puts a sudden halt to the B.Tech admission process for over 150 engineering colleges across the state.
If you’re a KEAM aspirant, you probably have a lot of questions. Let’s break down what happened, why it happened, and what could come next.
Why Was the Rank List Cancelled?
The main issue comes down to one thing: the normalization formula.
For 2025, the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) used a new method to combine the KEAM entrance exam scores and Plus Two board marks. This new formula was intended to create a level playing field, particularly for students from the Kerala State syllabus.
However, the problem was that this new formula was not mentioned in the official KEAM 2025 prospectus. The court ruled that changing the rules of the game after it has started is not permissible, leading to the cancellation of the entire rank list.
The Real Problem: Is It Time to Drop Plus Two Marks?
This isn’t a new controversy. The practice of giving 50:50 weightage to entrance scores and Plus Two marks has caused issues for years. It’s incredibly difficult to fairly compare the marks of students from different educational boards like State, CBSE, and ISC.
- In 2024, the formula seemed to benefit CBSE students, causing mark reductions for State syllabus students.
- In 2025, the formula was changed to help State students, which led to the current legal challenge.
This constant back-and-forth shows that finding a perfect normalization formula is nearly impossible.
Interestingly, national-level exams have already learned this lesson. The JEE Main exam experimented with using board marks but dropped the system after finding it unworkable. Now, they only require a minimum percentage (like 75%) for eligibility. Even the NEET exam for medical admissions does not use Plus Two marks for ranking, only for basic eligibility.
This begs the question: If it doesn’t work for medical or national engineering exams, why is it still used for Kerala engineering?
What Happens Now? The Clock Is Ticking
With the rank list scrapped, the government and the CEE are in a tough spot. They have a few possible paths forward, but none are perfect.
- Use the Old Formula: They could republish the list using the 2024 formula. This would be fast but would again put State syllabus students at a disadvantage.
- Appeal the Decision: They could challenge the High Court’s decision in a higher court. This would cause even more delays.
- Create Another New Formula: This would also take time and could lead to fresh legal challenges.
The biggest enemy right now is time. Admissions are already delayed. Top-ranking students won’t wait; they are already securing seats in NITs, IITs, BITS, CUSAT, Amrita, and VIT.
This delay primarily hurts the students who are waiting for admissions into Kerala’s government and private engineering colleges. It also creates a crisis for the colleges, many of which already struggle with thousands of vacant seats each year. Further delays could make this situation much worse.
The Way Forward: A Call for a Fair and Simple System
The clearest long-term solution is to remove the Plus Two mark component from the ranking process entirely. A rank list based solely on the KEAM entrance exam score would be:
- Fair: Every student is judged on a single, common test.
- Simple: It removes the complex and controversial normalization process.
- Predictable: Students and parents would have clarity from the beginning.
It’s time for a permanent fix. Students deserve a clear, fair, and timely admission process. A decision must be made quickly to secure the future of thousands of aspiring engineers and maintain the health of engineering education in Kerala.