Supreme Court stays admissions process at IITs, IIITs, NITs, until ‘bonus marks’ issue is resolved

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the admissions process for engineering courses in the IITs, the IIITs, the NITs and other colleges over the ‘bonus marks’ issue.
The IITs awarded bonus marks to all students for wrong questions in the entrance exam.
The apex court said “the future of 33,000 students already admitted hangs in the balance” and admission should be allowed only after deciding if the awarding of bonus marks was valid.
“It (issue of granting bonus marks) is a problem and it has to be solved by us at the earliest, said the top court.
The court also hinted that it might follow its own verdict from 2005, when it held that bonus marks for a wrong question can be given only to those who attempted the question.
The IITs’ counsel told court that evaluating test papers again would have been very time consuming.

“It is not possible to reevaluate the answer sheets of around 2.5 lakh students and awarding bonus marks was the most practical solution,” the IITs’ counsel said.
The Supreme Court has scheduled the next hearing for this coming Monday.