Govt breather for IIT aspirants from Andhra

In a breather to IIT aspirants, especially those from Andhra Pradesh, the government today said the cut-off percentage for the top 20 percentile will be computed on class XII marks only.
The move comes in the wake of the Andhra Pradesh High Court expressing concern over the "disadvantage" suffered by those students who were unaware of the proposed new system when they were studying in the first year.
In its judgement, the high court had observed that the intermediate course in Andhra Pradesh is of two years duration and the percentage of marks secured by a student is the aggregate of the marks secured in the first and second years.

The observation had come after some petitioners had challenged the JEE 2013 entrance test seeking regulations of the percentile norms.
Taking the concern of the high court into account, the HRD Ministry in a statement today said cut-off percentage for the top 20 percentile in case of Andhra Pradesh Board students will be calculated on the basis of class XII marks provided by their board like many other boards.
For other boards also, which compute their class XII results using marks secured in class XI as well as class XII, the ministry said the top 20 percentile calculation will be based on the marks of class XII, provided the board makes this information available to the Joint Admission Board or Council of Boards of School Education.

According to the new format vetted last year, admission to IIT will be based on a two tier system -- a main and an advance test. Students clearing the advance test would be considered for admission provided they are among the top 20 percentile in their boards.