Mumbai High Court Offers Breather to 52 B-schools from AICTE Norms
On the petition of the Maharashtra based Consortium of Management Institutes (COME) and the ITM Group of Institutions against new AICTE norms, the Mumbai High Court has offered an interim stay to 52 B-schools in India for academic year 2011-12.
For this year, the court has allowed COME to conduct joint Group Discussion and Personal Interview for all its fifty-two member institutions, which include the likes of MIT CON, KJ Somaiya; Indira Group of Institutes, WE School, and Chetna Institute.
ITM Group of Institutions that runs management programs in Maharashtra as well as four other states has been allowed to use any of the five major national-level management entrance examinations - CAT, MAT, XAT, JMET and ATMA. It has also been allowed to conduct its own Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) for this year.
According to the court, "The Common Aptitude Test and other national level tests, on the basis whereof the petitioners have invited students eligible to be considered for admission for the interviews and group discussions were held in December 2010/January 2011. The further process is to be conducted in March and April, 2011. The petitioners have been admitting students for several years in exercise of their fundamental right to do so. There are no allegations on record against them either of malafides or unfairness, non-transparency or exploitation. In these circumstances, if interim reliefs are granted for the current year, neither the respondent nor students will suffer any prejudice. On the other hand, if interim reliefs are refused, the petitioners will suffer enormous prejudice inter-alia, as it would amount to unsettling the status quo which has been in existence for several years."
COME and ITM Group of Institutions had to inform the AICTE and Director of Technical Education, Maharashtra State about how students will be called for group discussions and interviews, the scoring process and methodology, and weightage given to different heads while preparing the merit list by mid-March. The norms also had to be published on their respective websites as well as the official websites of the concerned management institutes.
The court has also advised COME that its member colleges should admit students strictly on the basis of the rank prepared by the petitioner Association, as per the formula adopted by the Director of Technical Education, which will come out as four separate merit lists.
COME (Consortium of Management Institutes) is a forum comprising several leading private management institutes in Mumbai and Pune offering AICTE-approved PGDM programs. It has been formed specifically to address the concerns of these institutes on recent AICTE notifications and protect their autonomy. Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) and Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI) are also planning to file their petitions in the Supreme Court soon.
Earlier, Orissa High court had also offered a stay on AICTE notification leading management institutes in Orissa until the next hearing which was to be held in March, 2011.
Source: Ruchi Shrimali (Shiksha Team)
Date: 17th March, 2011
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