Bangalore: With two days to go for the commencement of counselling by Common Entrance Test (CET) cell for admission of students to professional courses, Karnataka government on July 8 warned COMED- K, a consortium of private medical, engineering and dental colleges, that it would file a contempt of court petition if it rejected the students.

"We will not stop admission process, which would begin as scheduled from July 10 for any reason," Karnataka Minister for Higher Education Dr G Parameshwara declared while talking to reporters.

He said the government was going ahead with admissions as per the verdict of the High Court, which upheld the 75:25 per cent seat sharing formula and the private college managements cannot refuse admission to students selected by CET, as it would amount to contempt of court.

"If they deny admission legal action will follow", which included disaffiliation of colleges by the respective universities and derecognition of such education institutions under the Karnataka Education Act, he cautioned.

Under the government's seat sharing formula upheld by High Court in its interim order, 75 per cent of the seats are to be filed up through the CET and 25 per cent by managements.

Parameshwara, however, appealed to private college managements to accept students allotted to them by CET.

Few colleges that have formed a consortium under the banner COMED-K have preferred an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka High Court order on seat sharing and new fee structure, but the apex court is yet to admit it.

Parameshwara defended the new fee structure, saying it was sufficient to run college.

PTI