- Photo credit: roblisameehan
PGDM institutions across the country are free to accept CAT, XAT, MAT, ATMA and JMET scores and even conduct their own GD PI, the Supreme Court ruled today. An interim order to the effect which was passed on March 17, 2011 has been extended till the next academic year 2012-2013. The bench consisting of Justice R.V Ravindran and A.K Patnaik passed the order is response to a petition filed by the Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI), Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) and Jaipuria Group of Institutions against an All India Centre for Technical Education (AICTE) circular (dated December 28, 2010).
In the circular, the AICTE had sought for its respective state machineries to take control of the fees and curriculum of all AICTE-approved PGDM courses. While passing the interim order, Supreme Court (of March 17, 2011) had asked the AICTE to file a counter affidavit within 10 days. AICTE has not done it to-date. The court however allowed AICTE to conduct a separate test called the All India AICTE Entrance test, if it wants, which would be in addition to the five tests.
The extension of the interim order has brought much relief to the petitioners.
Dr. H Chaturvedi, Alternate President, EPSI said, Even the IIMs are not conducting their GD and interviews combined, so why was the rule being made for others. Every institute has its own requirements and admission policies. When told that a combined GD PI would help students, as they would not have to go for different GDs and PIs, Chaturvedi replied: If a student is confident enough then he/she need not apply for 10 or 15 institutes.
Similarly, Prabir Pal, president of the Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) said that many candidates are not comfortable giving an exam online. By restricting the entrance exams to just CAT and MAT, we would have lost out on additional number of candidates. Now, we can reach out to a bigger group.
Expressing doubts about the introduction of the All India AICTE Entrance test, Chaturvedi said, AICTE has never conducted admission tests so far and it would be a Herculean task if it will have to do so now. The test will be an option for aspiring candidates. But it is not compulsory to accept the the AICTE entrance test score.
While interacting with Prof. S S Mantha, Chairman of AICTE, Delhi some days ago, he had said that MBA admissions need to be conducted by a central body. It is beneficial for students. A state committee should decide the fee for all the institutes. These days, every institute conducts admissions on own. This process is never transparent and students are forced to pay huge admission fees.
A K Shukla, Regional Officer at AICTE western regional office, Mumbai said that AICTE Delhi played a key role in the whole court process and that he would prefer not to comment at this point. Same with Dr. S K Mahajan, director Directorate of Technical Education, Mumbai who said he had not seen the judgement, so preferred not to comment.