New Delhi: On Friday i.e. on February 18, 2011Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) admits of not disclosing its eligibility criteria till Common Admission Test (CAT) scores were announced, defending the charges of foul-play made by several CAT toppers eliminated because of hidden pre-test cut-offs.
As per sources, the IIM-A confession has come as a reply to a right to information (RTI) Act query which is likely to provide further ammunition to about 75 CAT toppers planning to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the second stage of IIM admissions. The second stage of admissions at many IIMs starts from Saturday.
Moreover, sources said that these students have not been short-listed for the second stage because the IIMs either changed eligibility rules after the test or used criteria that were never disclosed before the test, as was revealed on February 9. These criteria - Class X, XII and undergraduate marks ruled out these CAT toppers from the second stage of IIM admissions despite aggregate and sectional CAT scores over the cut-offs set.
The RTI Act response from Diptesh Ghosh, chairman of the IIM-A admissions panel states that the eligibility criteria for shortlisting candidates for Personal Interview [the second stage of admissions] were decided after publication of the CAT notice, were finalized on January 2, 2011. The date on which they were published was January 12, 2011.
Also, the sources has informed that those students, who have now petitioned HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, are arguing that they would never have applied for the CAT had they known they stood no chance. Aditya Narang, a IIT Roorkee graduate has questioned that why have the IIMs wasted a year of our life, our money, time and our sacrifices.
