Kerala HC cancels KEAM 2025 results over unfair weightage change

In a major blow to the state government, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday annulled the results of the Kerala Engineering Architecture and Medical (KEAM) exam results, observing that last-minute changes to the prospectus were illegal.

A single bench of Justice D K Singh set aside the rank list published as per the amended prospectus and directed that a new, revised rank list be published in accordance with the un-amended prospectus. The court observed that the revised method of calculating engineering entrance ranks adversely affected students from the CBSE syllabus.

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The order came on a petition alleging that the method of determining the rank of the entrance exam for engineering admissions is detrimental to students of the CBSE syllabus.

The court’s decision came just as the admission process was about to begin, throwing the entire KEAM engineering admission procedure into uncertainty.

The controversy stemmed from a shift in the evaluation formula detailed in the exam prospectus. Formerly, equal weightage was given to Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry in a 1:1:1 ratio.

However, the new formula — introduced after the release of the prospectus — changed this to 5:3:2, giving extra emphasis to Mathematics, followed by Physics and Chemistry.

The last-minute amendment to the prospectus was challenged in a writ petition filed by Hana Fatima Ahinus, who argued that the changes were arbitrary and unfair to students who had prepared based on the original prospectus.