JOIN USA bench headed by Justice R V Raveendran directed the Centre to file a reply on a petition challenging the ministry’s decision to hold single entrance test for both streams.
The petitioner, Sharwan Kumar, said the Central decision would put students, who wanted to pursue either of the courses, in trouble.
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had announced that the CBSE, would merge the All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE) and All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) from the coming academic year. The merger of AIEEE and AIPMT would help the students, a ministry statement had said.
While physics and chemistry will be common for both, medical students could answer only the biology paper and engineering students could go for the mathematics paper.
Sibal had said the HRD Ministry was debating whether it was possible to have one common exam after Class XII that would test the general awareness and aptitude of the student. The universities will give weightage to Class XII marks and entrance marks of students while giving admission.
The Council of Boards of School Education has already prepared a common curriculum in science and mathematics.
Food grains to hungry
Meanwhile, in another judgment, the apex court on Friday asserted that food grains cannot be allowed to rot in godowns, dumped into the sea or eaten by rats. It asked the Centre to allocate excess food grains to the hungry and BPL families in the country immediately.
A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma asked the attorney general to respond to its views. The judges told Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran that mere schemes without any implementation are of no use.
“More than nine years ago (August 20,2001), this court passed an order that the food grains which are overflowing in the storage, especially in the FCI godowns, should not be wasted. Mere schemes without any implementation are of no use. What is important is that the food must reach the hungry,” the Bench ruled.
The apex court said BPL population has risen by seven crore, as per the latest census figures. It asked the AG as to why the allocation should not be made in terms of the latest figure instead of relying on the 1991 Census figures.