File picture of students coming out of an examination centre in Bhubaneswar on May1

Bhubaneswar, May 11: There was no exam centre in the state for the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), which was scheduled to be held again today across the country. As a result, around 500 students, who had skipped the test on May 1 to appear for other professional examinations, lost out on this opportunity.

Explaining the reason for not providing a test centre in the state, AIEEE coordinator and CBSE governing body member K.C. Satapathy said the candidates who missed the test had to register their names with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) website between May 3 and 5 in order to get a new provisional admit card. Since there were no registrations from the state, no exam centre was provided.

“We had made several announcements regarding the rescheduling of examination and the registration process. Despite that, around 30 or 40 students, carrying their old admit cards, landed up today at some of the centres that were allotted for the May 1 exam. They had to be sent back as examinations were not organised at those places today,” said Satapathy.

However, only those candidates, who missed the test as it was suspended at certain centres all over India, were not required to register, he added. “But no centre in Orissa had suspended the exams. Had that been the case, it would have been our moral responsibility to ensure that they directly appear for the rescheduled exam without any further registration,” he said.

Following a question paper leak in Lucknow, the exam of May 1 was delayed throughout the country by nearly three hours. Over 20,000 aspirants of the state took the test according to the revised time schedule at 28 centres across Orissa, including 22 centres in Bhubaneswar and six in Rourkela. Accordingly, the Armed Forces Medical College entrance exam, also scheduled to be conducted on the same day after the AIEEE, was postponed by two hours. The CBSE had earlier fixed May 8 as the new exam date for those candidates who missed the AIEEE to appear for the AFMC. It was later rescheduled to May 11 since the date clashed with the OJEE.