The Kerala High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the single bench order quashing the University Grants

Commissions decision to change the eligibility criteria for the recently held National Eligibility Test. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice K Vinod Chandran posted the appeal filed by the UGC to February 5 for final hearing. The single judge had also directed the UGC to grant certificates to the candidates who had obtained the minimum mark prescribed earlier. The UGC contended that the court had no right to make a declaration regarding the test result. It had been clearly stated in the original notification that the candidates should obtain the minimum required marks in each paper separately. It had also been said that the qualifying criteria for the Junior Research Fellowship and the eligibility for lectureship would be decided by the UGC before the declaration of results. It was a moderation committee appointed by the UGC which consisted of senior academicians who had recommended that the general, OBC (non-creamy layer) and the SC/ST candidates would be required to obtain an aggregate of 65, 60 and 55 per cent respectively in addition to the paperwise minimum per centage to qualify, the UGC said