MBA aspirants may file PILs on CAT score

The furore over the “transparency” issue on CAT scores, it appears, will not die out in a hurry. Students who took the computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) are consulting lawyers to file writ petitions in the high courts of Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai next week.

These students, who have also filed right to information (RTI) applications, are planning to first file a written application the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). “We have to give a 48-hour notice to IIMs and, if we don’t get a response, we will go ahead with our writs,” said a student who planned to file the writ in Chennai.

Close to 30 RTI applications have been filed so far. IIM Ahmedabad’s communications department confirmed receiving 10 RTI applications so far. Students say they will raise the transparency issue and details of the database used to equate scores across different question sets in the writ.

“We are in talks with our lawyers and will file the writs by this Friday or early next week,” said a student from Delhi.

The students argue that even if the IIMs go ahead with admission process for this year, they want their respective scores. Some students, in fact, are planning to invoke Section 7 of the Right to Information Act, where the information sought concerns life or liberty of a person. Answers to this are to be provided within forty-eight hours of the receipt of the request.

“We are collecting more RTIs and making applications with different questions so that we get unique data,” said a student.