New Delhi, May 10: The AIEEE test will be held on Wednesday as scheduled with the Supreme Court on Tuesday refusing to stay government’s decision to hold the examination again for candidates who could not appear in the May 1 test due to question paper leak.
A bench of justices DK Jain and HL Dattu declined to interfere with the Delhi High Court order which had refused to grant stay on the May 2 government notification announcing re-conduct of AIEEE (All India Engineering Entrance Examination) by the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education).
The Bench, however, issued notices to Ministry of Human Resource Development, the secretary of the AIEEE unit of the CBSE and its Director (Special Exams) and sought their reply within one week to hear the matter urgently.
The bench also directed the petitioner AP Sinha, former professor of NIT Jamshedpur, Jharkhand to respond in three days after receiving the replies of the respondents and posted the matter before the vacation bench for hearing.
Sinha had sought a stay on government notification to re-conduct the AIEEE exam on May 11 contending that if it was allowed his petition before the Delhi High Court seeking cancellation of the May 1 test would become infructuous. He had first approached the high court seeking a direction for holding the exam afresh providing equal opportunity to each and every candidate.
The petitioner had sought cancellation of the second exam on the ground that one was held 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 May 11 in an undue advantageous position”.
Leakage of the question paper in UP and reportedly sold for Rs.six lakh led to a delay in the test with aspirants being given a fresh set of questions.
The question paper was reportedly being sold in the open market in Lucknow. A man was arrested by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police for his alleged role in the leakage.
The petitioner claimed that “though the news of question paper leaks and confirmation thereof by the top concerned officials came at 7.30 am on May 1 itself which was much before the scheduled starting time for the AIEEE 2011, the exam was conducted defying all the established norms and practice of law and legality.”
–Agencies