NO need to conduct
CMAT exam
The Delhi High Court
(HC) has cancelled the common management admission test (CMAT), questioning the
authority of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to conduct
entrance exams for Mba admissions.
The AICTE conducts the Common Management Admission Test -
CMAT as an entrance test for admission to 4,000 management colleges that offer
MBA and 500 colleges which run postgraduate diploma in management programs.
CMAT is a computer based test that is conducted twice a year - first in
September/ October and again in February for admission to a single academic
session.
The Federation of Association of Management of Unaided
Professional Educational Institutions of India (FAMUPEII), the petitioners, had
appealed to the division bench questioning the powers of the AICTE to conduct
the entrance test.
The High Court in its order has observed the Supreme Court
order of April 25 which ruled that the AICTE did not have the authority to
control or regulate professional colleges which are affiliated to universities.
"...it is clear from the above said findings of the Supreme Court that the
AICTE has no role to play either in the admission process or in subsequent
monitoring of the said course..." the high court said. This order was
given on 7 October, but made public only on Tuesday, 29 October.
However, Renu Bafna, chief coordinator, CMAT, AICTE,
reportedly told the media, "There are other court decisions in the past
where the court said there was no problem in AICTE conducting the entrance
test. We have never said this would be the only entrance test. It is up to the
state governments to decide and follow their own merit-list."
In the Supreme Court order issued in April, judges B S
Chauhan and V Gopala Gowda ruled that though MCA was a technical course, the
AICTE couldn't lay down the standards.
The court order had said, "An MBA course is not a
technical course within the definition of the AICTE Act", and "an
approval from the AICTE is not required for obtaining permission and running an
MBA course by the appellant colleges."
"We are happy with the order. This means no more
compulsory CMAT for B-schools," said GPC Nayar, president of the
federation and chairman of School of Communication and Management Studies,
Kerala told a leading national daily.This step will reduce the increasing Education consultants India
and will enhance the level of study.
The judges said the role of AICTE is advisory, which means
it can prescribe uniform standards of education for affiliated members of a
university by sending a note to the University Grants Commission.
The ministry of human resource development was considering
to bring in an ordinance to restore AICTE's powers, but no progress has been
made on this front.
Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI) said the high
court order was a welcome move.
"It is vindication of our stand in the Supreme Court
and elsewhere that the AICTE, being the statutory body, should confine itself
only to the limited working area defined in the AICTE Act, 1987," said H
Chaturvedi, Alternate President, EPSI and director, Birla Institute of
Management Technology, Noida.
EPSI says it MBA tests like CAT, XAT and MAT are being
conducted for the last several decades without any fiasco, and their
reliability and credibility is well established.
It was a news of joy for people looking for Direct MBA Admissions
when they come to know that admission could be directly made in colleges. A
division bench of the HC, led by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana, cancelled AICTE's
notification for the exam, saying AICTE did not have the authority to regulate
MBA courses. The bench also said that the MBA courses don't fall under
technical education as defined in the AICTE Act.
