New Delhi: 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."
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 21:02