SC allows counselling and admissions to IITS

NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Monday allowed the counselling and admission into Indian Institutes of Technology (IITS) across the country on the basis of the results of the IITJEE (Advance) 2017 results by vacating its stay on it.

The apex court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra vacated its stay ordered last Friday but asked the high courts not to interfere in the petitions regarding counselling and admission to the IITS to avoid any confusion.

Counselling is a process in which a candidate, who clears the entrance examination, chooses the best college and stream according to his or her choice based on their rank.

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar, asked the IITS to give an undertaking that such mistakes will not recur and make sure that no situation in which bonus marks have to be awarded arose in future.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, representing the IITS, said such a situation will not arise in future.

The bench said the 2005 judgement in Guru Nanak University case will not apply in the present matter as there were a huge number of students involved and there was a system of negative marking in the exam.

The apex court also noted that an experts’ body of IITS had met twice to decide that bonus marks should be awarded across the board for the wrong questions.