SC rejects CBSE's plea for combined AIPMT and AIEEE exam

Updated on: Saturday, September 24, 2011

The Supreme Court on Friday shelved an ambitious student-friendly initiative from the HRD ministry through the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) proposing to integrate the AIPMT and AIEEE into a single entrance test for admissions to undergraduate medical and engineering courses.

While the All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Examination (AIPMT) is conducted to fill 15% seats in MBBS/BDS courses in government medical and dental colleges against the all-India quota, the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) is for drawing up a combined merit list for a different category of engineering colleges. CBSE conducts both AIPMT and AIEEE every year.

A bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik, which entertained the CBSE's proposal and had sought the views of the health ministry for nearly a year, dismissed the education regulator's plea saying there was no unanimity.

When CBSE counsel requested for some more time to iron out the differences with other stakeholders, the bench said that unanimity and a solution had to be found within the government and the court was not the forum.

The bench had earlier appreciated the noble intentions behind the move, that is to relieve the students from appearing in multiple entrance examinations, but the health ministry had said a common test for medical and engineering courses would create confusion and chaos in the merit list.

The CBSE had said that amalgamation of AIPMT and AIEEE would relieve students and their parents of a lot of stress both physical and financial.

The CBSE in its application had said that its governing body meeting had several times recorded that "members of the committee had desired that both the AIPMT and AIEEE, which are conducted by CBSE, may be integrated keeping in view the interest of the candidates to enable them to get admission in medical/dental and engineering through a single entrance examination".

Consequent to the recommendation of the governing body, a meeting of officials of HRD, Medical Council of India and Directorate General of Health Services, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, and CBSE was held on June 7, 2010. In this meeting, it was decided to amalgamate AIPMT and AIEEE.

Times of India

SC rejects CBSE's plea for combined AIPMT and AIEEE exam

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