IIT Kanpur defies Sibal, to hold own test

In  apparent defiance of the union minister for HRD Kapil Sibal, who had proposed ‘one nation, one test’ concept, the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has decided to conduct its own entrance test from the next academic session.

The Senate of the Institute at its meeting held at Kanpur on Friday decided to conduct the entrance examination for admissions to its undergraduate programmes in 2013, according to the sources. Institute director Sanjay Dhande was not available for comment.

A resolution adopted by the meeting also authorized the chairman of the senate to form a committee for conducting JEE 2013 by IIT Kanpur and said that the undergraduate admissions committee would organize the entrance examination and counselling, and deal with all other matters pertaining to the undergraduate admissions in 2013.

Sources said the senate members were unanimous in their criticism of the new proposal by the union minister and termed it as “academically and methodically unsound and in violation of the Institutes of Technology Act (1961) and IIT Kanpur Ordinances (Ordinance 3.2 (Admissions)”.

The new proposal by the centre to hold the common test under the new format had cleared at a meeting of the Councils of IITs, NITs and IIITs on May 28.