New Delhi: Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday slammed the premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and ordered an enquiry into what prevented a large number of students from taking the online Common Admission Test (CAT) entrance examination on the scheduled dates.

"This should not have happened. As government we are very concerned," Sibal told reporters. CAT is an entry into the premier business schools.

"I had asked the IIMs to give me a report and as per December 1 morning, 45,000 students had enrolled for giving the test but 8,000 could not. This is a huge percentage," he added.

With CAT going online this year, the IIMs decided to hold the exam on 10 different days instead of conducting it on one day.

But for the last four days, thousands of IIM aspirants have failed to take the test as the server crashed. While the test conducting firm, Prometric, has blamed it on viruses, students and coaching centres have blamed it for mismanagement and failure. IANS