IIT Admissions - SC Lifts the Stay

Why in news?

The Supreme Court lifted its stay on admissions to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) across the country.

Why did the Supreme Court impose a stay?

• Bonus marks were given to compensate for wrong questions in two of the papers.
• They were granted irrespective of whether a candidate had answered these questions or not.
• The exam was conducted this year by the IIT Madras and the decision to give bonus marks were taken by it.
• The court had ordered a freeze (stay) on the admission process after a petition was filed in this regard.

What the petitioner argued?

• The petitioner had argued that a blanket award of 18 bonus marks to all candidates, across the board, was both “arbitrary and wrong.”
• Due to the distribution of bonus marks, nearly 20,000 students, who did not deserve, qualified the cut-off.
• This has adversely affected several meritorious students.

What was the recent move?

• Recently the SC asked the High Courts not to entertain petitions regarding this issue to “avoid any confusion” in future.
• Further the court warned the IIT authorities not to repeat the mistake again.
• Subsequently the court lifted the stay order.

Quick Fact

JEE

• The Joint Entrance Exam (Advanced) is the second phase of the IIT entrance tests and is conducted by one of the IITs annually.
• The All India Rank list is prepared subsequently and various IITs are allotted to successful candidates.

Source: The Hindu