Date:18/09/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/18/stories/2004091803041300.htm

National

Hearing on plea for holding AICET adjourned

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 17. The Supreme Court today adjourned by four weeks hearing on a petition filed by the All India Medical and Engineering Colleges Association seeking permission to conduct an All India Common Entrance Test (AICET) for filling over five lakh vacant seats under the `management quota' in medicine, engineering and other professional courses.

A Bench of Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari adjourned the hearing following a plea made by the counsel for the petitioner that the issue raised in the petition be referred to a larger Bench for its consideration.

The Association in its additional affidavit explained that under the All-India Engineering Entrance Examinations (AIEEE), 17 National Institutes of Technology, 24 Deemed Universities and only three other institutions participated from Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Uttaranchal for all seats, and only for open seats in Haryana, Rajasthan and Orissa.

None of the over 1,000 members of the petitioner association participated in the AIEEE as seats under the management quota in these colleges could not be filled only through the AIEEE.