The Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) is in trouble again. And this could be the final straw. The Delhi High Court has ruled that CMAT cannot be given the ‘exclusive exam’ status that it has been so desperately trying to achieve ever since it came into existence last year. The court said that AICTE did not have the authority to regulate MBA courses as they do not fall under ‘technical education’ as defined in the AICTE Act.
The exact order has not yet reached the petitioner – the Federation of Association of Management of Unaided Professional Educational Institutions of India which is a Kerala-based body. Its president Mr GPC Nayar told PaGaLGuY that he is extremely happy and the judgment is in his favour. “We do not want CMAT to be the only exam. The other exams cannot be just written off.”
According to Mr Nayar, the reason for filing the petition was not to de-value CMAT but to stop AICTE from proclaiming it as the only MBA entrance test. “There are other exams like XAT, MAT, ATMA. All the exams should be allowed to co-exist, one entrance exam should not be given undue importance,” he added.
Mr Nayar also added however, that with the onset of CMAT, institutes have been reporting empty seats. “Some 3000 institutes have closed down and many are functioning with 50% seats. CMAT has not generated any interest in candidates.”
It may be recalled that in Maharashtra, the DTE has decided to go back to the Mah-CET because it felt that CMAT has fewer takers and its institutes were reporting vacant seats.
Mr SS Mantha, AICTE Chairman said that he has not seen the order either but confirms that it is nothing close to what the other media has portrayed it to be. He said: “The order does not say that the exam is scrapped. All it will say is that CMAT will exist with other entrance exams. CMAT is very much part of the MBA process.”
This order has definitely come as a blow to AICTE which has pushed for CMAT to be the only MBA entrance exam (besides of course CAT). Mr Mantha, on earlier occasions had told this website that too many exams were a hassle for candidates, besides every exam charged a fee which if totaled was quite a amount for a candidate in a single year.