“Students were earlier asked to give three centres of their choice, which we have increased to four this year. We are more cautious this time,” she said.

On whether the government can assure that students from Maharashtra get a centre within the state, she said, “We shall review the application forms as they come to us and try our best to give a centre of the students’ choice.”

About increasing exam centres in Maharashtra as there was an increase in number of candidates from the state, she said they would increase the exam centres if the government had the infrastructure to ensure no malpractice took place.

Last year, a large number of students from Maharashtra had to travel to places like Andaman, Ahmedabad and Bhopal to appear for AIEEE. This created a misconception that if the filled applications online, they would get a centre far away. As a cascading effect, Syndicate Bank on Laxmi Road, the lone application form distribution centre for Pune region, witnessed chaos during the first week of form distribution in December. The police had to intervene.

The minister was in the city on Sunday to attend the Symbiosis International University’s (SIU) 5th convocation, as the chief guest, on Sunday. In her speech, she said the government is not against privatisation of education.