IIT Delhi is also likely to follow the Kanpur model and hold its own entrance tests for 2013

In a declaration on Friday, IIT Kanpur 210-member senate slammed the proposed common entrance test, and said the "decision was academically and methodically unsound and in violation of the IIT Act." It also authorised its chairman to constitute a committee with the help of the dean of academic affairs for conducting "JEE 2013 by IIT Kanpur".

A senate consists largely of professors who are made responsible by the IIT Act of 1961, "for the maintenance of standards of instruction, education and examination."

The students of IIT Kanpur have also strongly condemned the proposed common entrance test.

The proposal to hold a common test under the new format was cleared at a meeting of the Councils of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) on May 28 chaired by Mr Sibal.

The common entrance exam would have two steps - a "main" and "advanced" stage. The results of Class 12 board exams would also play a role in deciding whether a student gets into an engineering college.

Engineering colleges will use a 40:30:30 formula - with Class 12 board results counting for 40 %, and the two stages of the entrance exam counting for 30 % each.

The federation has written to the Prime Minister's Office, asking for Dr Manmohan Singh's intervention. Members of the federation are scheduled to meet Dr Singh on Tuesday.

Mr Sibal had, on Thursday, had rubbished claims that a majority of the IIT senates were opposed to the HRD Ministry's proposal. He said that senates of IIT Guwahati, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee had suggested the final formulation. "Guwahati, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkie were the four supporters of it. Incidentally, as far as Bombay is concerned, they also supported," he said.

"The examination announced by the HRD Ministry is a unilateral decision of IIT Council against the advice and decisions of IIT-Kanpur Senate, which has the prerogative of deciding its admission criteria," it said in a statement.