Petition in SC seeks stay on re-conduct of AIEEE

Petition in SC seeks stay on re-conduct of AIEEE

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the government's decision to re-conduct the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) for candidates who could not appear in the May 1 test due to question paper leak.

The petition, filed by former Professor A P Sinha of NIT Jamshedpur, has appealed against a Delhi High Court order which issued notices to the government but refused to stay its decision to re-conduct the AIEEE on 11^th May.

"As per the scheme of the examination, two separate examinations are not envisaged at all for a single merit list based on performances. Deviations leave the process illegal, unjust, unconstitutional, arbitrary and clearly against fundamental rights of equality of all the candidates," the petition said.

The main plea before the High Court was for the cancellation of the examination held on 1^st May and conducting it afresh in near future providing equal opportunity to each and every candidate.

The petitioner had sought stay on the government's notification dated 2^nd May for holding the AIEEE on 11^th May for the candidates who could not take it on 1^st May due to confusion arising out of the leakage of the question paper.

As the High Court did not stay the rescheduled exam, the petitioner approached the apex court contending that "High Court's decision results into effectively disallowing the main petition rendering the same as infructuous".

The petitioner contended that the government is "conducting two AIEEE 2011 exams under two very different conditions -- one in adverse and disadvantageous condition, marked by chaos in which 97 per cent of the total candidates appeared, while only 3 per cent candidates are allowed to appear on 11^th May in an undue advantageous positions".

"This will certainly lead to conditions in which it can never produce a just, fair, bonafide and legally sustainable merit list of rankings and thereby may open a floodgate of future litigations and challenges," the petition said.