The AICTE is unlikely to roll back a recent directive that admission to private management institutes must be done through entrance tests like the CAT, MAT or exams conducted by the state governments.

Private B-schools institutes see the move as an attack on their autonomy. Two of their associations — the Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI) and Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) — have decided to challenge the directive in the Supreme Court next week.

The private institutes admit students for the post-graduate diploma courses in management (PGDM) by holding their own tests. Some of these include the Xavier Aptitude Test, AIMS Test for Management Admission (ATMA) and Joint Management Aptitude Test (JMAT).

The directive from the AICTE — the All India Council of Technical Education, the country’s technical education regulator — will make all such exams invalid besides robbing the institutes’ freedom to admit students based on their own assessment.

But the norms are unlikely to be withdrawn. “The AICTE has issued the directive keeping in view the judgments of the Supreme Court in various cases. The AICTE may not withdraw the directive,” a source said.

A government official shrugged off the legal challenge. “Everybody is free to move court. Let them go. The court will decide,” he said.

The AICTE’s directive came after a public interest litigation was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking regulation of admission and curriculum for PGDM courses.

While many engineering, architecture and hotel management institutes admit students through entrance tests conducted by the states, there are no such tests for entry into private management institutes. Many of these institutes use CAT, MAT, XAT, ATMA and JMAT scores for admission. Some admit students without any entrance test.