Bombay High Court Adjourns PIL Seeking Postponement Of JEE Mains, Asks Petitioner To Bring Relevant Documents On Record

"You have not filed the rules that you are challenging? How can you file petition without the rules which you are challenging?...We have to see how it is unfair," the court remarked.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep V. Marne was hearing a public interest litigation filed by activist Anubha Sahai challenging eligibility criteria of minimum 75% marks in the Class XII. The plea also seeks deferment of the upcoming JEE Mains examination to April 2023.

“Petitioner seeks time to file the brochure on record. Next date 10th January," said the court, while dictating the order.

Courtroom Exchange

Advocate Joseph Thate for the petitioner contended that the JEE Mains exam is clashing with board exams and viva voce of many boards. “Usually, they inform 4 months prior to the exam but they have not this time”, he added.

Thate added that the NTA had not kept the eligibility criteria of 75% marks in 2022 but they have given it this year. He told the court that a candidate has total six attempts for JEE Mains considering there are two sessions each year. Each attempt is important, he said.

Adv. Rui Rodriguez for the NTA clarified that the 75% marks have to be scored in the board exams, not in JEE Mains. He further clarified that class XII result is considered at the time of the admission in IITs. The eligibility criteria is not for appearing in the exam, he said.

To this, Thate responded by stating that there's no point of appearing in exam if the candidate does not have the minimum score.

When the bench asked for the brochure of the exam, Rodriguez informed the bench that the petition is deficient as the brochure has not been filed.

The court said that the rules which are being challenged should have been filed with the petition itself.

Background

Apart from the aforementioned contentions, the PIL also contends that many candidates are from batches that were assessed on the basis of performance in the previous years as the board exams were cancelled due to COVID pandemic. According to the petition, there are students with less than 75% marks but could perform well in JEE Mains and if fair chance is denied to them, it will affect the future of lakhs for bright students.

The Petition further states that many other competitive exams are also schedule in January 2023 and will clash with JEE Mains. NDA SSB interview has been scheduled for 23 to 27 January 2023, and students appearing for JEE Mains may miss out on the same, according to the petition.

Case Title – Anubha Srivastava Sahai v. National Testing Agency and Ors.