Though some states like Tamil Nadu opposed the Common Entrance Test (CET) for professional courses, the HRD ministry has come out with a mission document for conducting the Indian Science-Engineering Eligibility Test (ISEET) from 2013.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will conduct the test according to the mission document with the guidance of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

The HRD ministry is likely to persuade all states to accept CET during the Education Ministers’ conference scheduled to take place in New Delhi on February 22. It may be pointed out that Tamil Nadu has opposed CET for over half a decade.

According to the mission document, ISEET would be split into two parts, ISEET–main and advance. Each examination will be for three hours and will take place on a single day.

The examination would be conducted either in April or May. The main exam will be conducted in the morning and the advance in the afternoon.

It will be up to each institution, groups of institutions and state agencies to carry out counselling and admission in a coordinated manner, the document said.

University sources said that Tamil Nadu was the first state to scrap the Common Entrance Test for professional courses five years ago and the present AIADMK government too had opposed CET.

“When the state has taken such a stance we don’t think the Union government can force CET in Tamil Nadu,” said a source.