Breaking | JEE Main: Bombay High Court Refuses To Order Relaxation Of Minimum 75% 12th Board Score Eligibility Criterion For IIT/NIT Admissions

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep V Marne dismissed a PIL seeking relaxation of the eligibility criteria.

"The students, whose cause petitioner is allegedly espousing, neither have any vested right nor legitimate expectation to claim relaxation in the eligibility criteria for admissions to NITs, IITs and CFITs during the current year. Since grant of relaxation is a policy decision, the same can be taken by the Government of India in appropriate circumstances. This court would not be in a position to issue Writ of mandamus directing the government to grant relaxation in the eligibility criteria for admissions", the court held.

The court said that the eligibility criteria was relaxed in previous three years due to special circumstances. Just because relaxation was granted in the previous three years due to COVID, the students are not entitled to continue to claim relaxation indefinitely, the court said. The court did not find the eligibility condition to be arbitrary in any manner.

The court also noted that JEE is a pan India exam taken by lakhs of students and the JEE Main 2023 has already been held while JEE Advance is scheduled in a short while. "This would be another reason why this court would be loathe in interfering in the methodology of conducting JEE and / or admission process", the court opined.

Though the NTA had filed an affidavit in response to the court’s query regarding the purpose of the eligibility criteria, the court refused to examine the merits of NTA’s reasons observing that it as it is a matter of policy decision of the

NTA in its affidavit had stated that the eligibility criteria of minimum 75 percent in boards for admission to NITs, IIITs, CFTIs/GFTIs is a sound, well considered policy decision.

NTA did not comment on the same criteria for admission to IITs, as it is not the authority responsible for conducting JEE Advance and deciding eligibility criteria for IITs. The affidavit also stated that conducting a third session for JEE Mains 2023 in May is unsustainable.

The High Court in January rejected the prayer for postponement of JEE Mains 2023 examination.

The petition contended that many candidates are from batches that were not 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 stated that the NTA notification came at the end of the academic year. The eligibility criteria should not be changed suddenly as the students have been preparing with the expectation that it will be the same as that of last year, according to the petition.

Case Title – Anubha Shrivastava Sahai v. National Testing Agency

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