JUDGMENT

S. PANDA, J.

Since common questions are involved in both the writ petitions, they were heard together and are being disposed of by this common order.

2. Petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 who are the candidates and petitioner No. 3 who is the uncle of the candidate, namely, Lal Bihari Panigrahi in WP (C) No. 11048 of 2012 and the petitioner, who is, the father of the candidate, namely, Sibani Padhi, in WP (C) No. 12934 of 2012 have challenged the arbitrariness/gross irregularities done in allotment policy for Home State Quota (in short, "HSQ") in All India Engineering Entrance Examination, 2012 (hereinafter referred t9 as "The AIEEE, 2012") by the Central Counselling Board, 2012 for National Institute of Technology, Rourkela.

3. The Government of India vide Resolution dated 18th October, 2001 has laid down a Three Exam Scheme (JEE, AIEEE at the National Level and the State Level Engineering Entrance Examinations (SLEEE) for State Level Institutions for admission to Engineering and Architecture/ Planning Programmes with an option to join AIEEE. It takes care of varying admission standards in these programmes and helps in maintenance of professional standards. It also solves problems of overlaps and reduces physical, mental and financial burden on students and their parents due to multiplicity of entrance examinations. The eleventh AIEEE Entrance Examination was held on 29.4.2012. Approximately, 34, 311 seats for BE/B.Tech & 1070 seats. for B.Arch/B.Planning in various institutions, namely, National Institutes of Technology, IIITs, Deemed Universities, Technical Institutions, Delhi Technological University, Delhi and others Government funded Institutions were offered through this examination. The Government of India through Ministry of Human Resource Development Deptt. of Higher Secondary vide office memorandum dated 12.1.2011 reconstituted the Central Counselling Board (in short, 'CCB') for All India Engineering/Architecture Entrance Examination. The AIEEE, 2012 in its website, namely, www.aieee.nic.in published the prospectus for All India Engineering/Architecture Entrance Examination, 2012. Accordingly, the petitioners and their wards registered themselves along with thousand of such other students for appearing in the All India Engineering/Architecture Entrance Examination, 2012. The entire admission process consists of four steps which are follows:

“Step-I

Online registration: In this process, candidates eligible for central counselling should register themselves for online counselling in the CCB website from June, 16 to 25, 2012 from places convenient to them. Spot Round registrations can be done during August, 36, 2012.

Step-II

Online choice filling and locking of choices: After registration, candidates will be able to exercise their branch/institute choices on the CCB website using Internet during June 16-25, 2012 from places convenient to them.

Step-III

Online Seat Allotment and personally reporting to a Reporting Centre: Candidates will be offered seats based on their choices in the order of merit (AIEEE All India rank) over multiple rounds of allotment. Candidates who are allotted a seat (i.e., offered admission) will report to anyone of the 'Reporting Centers' during the time frames specified, get the documents verified and pay the initial fee to mark their acceptance of the offer to seat and exercise upgrade options, if required. They will also be issued a provisional admission letter.

Step-IV

Getting Admitted to Allotted Institute: Candidates are required to be physically present at the Institute where the candidate is getting admitted (hereinafter called 'Allotted Institute') after verification of all original documents as per the procedure of the allotted institute.

For most of the candidates, the entire admission process is over at this stage.

Spot Admission

For the seats left vacant after the four rounds of counselling process, there shall be spot admission, when intending candidates are required to be physically present