When he was asked today how did the CAT paper leak, IIM Ahmedabad director Bakul Dholakia pleaded helplessness: ‘‘Even I am unaware of the CAT question paper. It is so secretive.’’ Dholakia was telling the truth. Held in high esteem, the CAT follows a time-tested procedure: • The examination is in the hands of a CAT core group, comprising chairpersons of the six admission committees of the six IIMs. • There are other members on the board and each admission committee appoints paper-setters who in turn don’t know if their questions will be included • There are only two ways the paper can be leaked outside IIM: at the press where it’s printed or enroute centres • The directors are not allowed to keep track unless something goes seriously wrong (HRD Ministry was clueless today, still finding out details of how the CAT is conducted. Even CBI had a tough time, tracing people in charge of the examinations) • Paper agreed upon by the six chairpersons are released to the printing press only seven days before CAT • Identities of faculty members who have provided inputs for the question papers are kept secret. After a hard copy of the paper is made, the CAT group destroys the hard disk of the computer used for the work • The hard copy of the paper is carried by IIM men, chosen by the CAT group, to the printing press where the papers are printed in a ‘‘coding series’’ which ensures detection if a paper is taken out during printing • The IIM men supervise the printing of the required number of question papers; these are then packed centrewise in envelopes and sealed. The envelopes are put in six steel trunks, one for each IIM, and the trunks too are sealed • The trunks are taken over by chairmen of the admission committees and taken to respective IIMs where they are kept in strong rooms and no one has access • A day before the examination, the sealed envelopes are taken out of the trunk by the chairman of the admission committee ande handed over to teams of IIM faculty and employees who carry these to the examination centres • Another team oversees the entire process. For examination centres in the cities which have an IIM, the question paper packets are sent the same day a few hour before the examination begins. The sealed envelopes are opened in the examination hall The question paper this year was printed at the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) press in Mumbai. ‘‘It’s a semi-government press and was selected because it is the best in the country and has very high credibility,’’ said Prof Vijay Sherichand, chairman of the admissions committee of IIMA and one of the six members of the CAT group. While IIMA Director Bakul Dholakia believes that the leak could have taken place at the press, as this is ‘‘the only point where the process of handling of the papers gets out of the hands of IIM people,’’ Prof Sherichand would not hazard a guess. ‘‘I do not know where things went wrong,’’ he said. Prof Sherichand is sure that the paper did not leak during transportation in the western region, which is his responsibility. ‘‘I can assure you that the paper did not leak during transportation to other centres. Question papers were taken to other centres like Mumbai and Pune on Saturday,’’ he added, refusing to share more details. On the role and functioning of the CAT committee, Prof Sherichand said, ‘‘The coordination for conducting the CAT exam is done by the CAT group itself. There is no chairman or a single authority to coordinate all over the country. The responsibilities are distributed among various IIMs geographically.’’ But HRD Ministry officials in Delhi claimed IIM Ahmedabad was the supervising coordinator this year and it would be Lucknow’s turn next year.(with Diptosh Majumdar in New Delhi)
