IIT-JEE '06 clashes with NDA exam

NEW DELHI: Two of the country's main professional entrance examinations - Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examinations (IIT-JEE) 2006 and the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination (I) (NDA & NA) 2006 - are headed for a clash on April 9, 2006.
A source at the JEE office in IIT Delhi said: "We advertised JEE 2006 on July 30.On August 10, we received a fax from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) which conducts the NDA examination, about the notification date (October 15, 2005) and last date for receipt of applications (November 14, 2005) for the NDA examination to be held on April 9, 2006."
The JEE office at IIT, Delhi replied back to UPSC by fax on August 12 addressing it to under-secretary M Mukhopadhyay about its inability to defer the JEE examination. "We informed UPSC that JEE is not in a position to defer the examination as other engineering entrance examinations in the country like the All-India Engineering Entrance Examinations take a cue from us and schedule their tests and counselling accordingly," the source added.
Even this year, IIT-JEE and NDA&NA examination were headed for a clash but it was averted at the last minute. "The UPSC agreed to defer the NDA&NA exam by one week. The IIT-JEE was held according to schedule on April 10 and NDA&NA examination was held on April 17. The civil services preliminary examination 2005 was held on May 15.
"This year, the UPSC authorities are saying that they need atleast a five-week gap between NDA&NA and the civil services preliminary examination 2006 because of the logistics involved with both the examinations," the source remarked.
M Mukhopadhyay, under-secretary, UPSC, was not available for comments.