Government today rejected criticism of the decision to have a common IIT-JEE examination from next year. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said it was approved without dissent at the IIT Council meeting and had the backing of the senates of four of the seven Indian Institutes of Technology. Mr Sibal categorically said at the IIT council meeting that if there is a single dissent he will not go ahead with the proposal. Last week, Mr Sibal had announced that from 2013, aspiring candidates for IITs and other central institutes like NITs and IIITs will have to sit under new a format of common entrance test which will also take plus two board results into consideration. Mr Sibal said this was not a government decision and all directors of IIT, NIT, and IIIT sitting together unanimously said that this was a right decision.