Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday asked the petitioner, who sought postponement of JEE Main 2023, to submit its rules of the examination noting that the petitioner has failed to file on record the brochure of the exam during a hearing on Wednesday, January 4, 2022.
When the court asked for the brochure of the exam, it was informed that the same was not annexed with the petition.The court said that the rules which are being challenged should have been filed with the petition itself.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne was hearing a public interest litigation filed by child rights activist and advocate Anubha Srivastava, challenging eligibility criteria of minimum 75% marks in the Class 12 board exam to be eligible for the JEE counselling process.
Petitioner demands postponement as court asks for rules to be followed
The court ordered the advocate to submit the JEE brochure in the next hearing. The matter is to be heard again on Tuesday, January 10, only two days prior to the closing date of JEE Main registrations.
In her petition, Srivastava also made an appeal for postponement of the nationwide entrance exam as the timetable was only released 40 days prior to phase 1 of JEE Main, giving students little time to prepare, whilst also clashing with Class 12 tests and practicals of various state boards. The plea also urged deferment of the upcoming JEE Mains examination to April 2023.
'Decision on Jan 10 should be conclusive,' says petitioner
Joseph Thate, advocate for the petitioner, argued 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.
"The decision taken on January 10 should be conclusive," stated Anubha Srivastava. " The last-minute mandate of 75% eligibility criteria makes it difficult for the students to study for their exams. It leaves no hope for those who had dropped out of previous JEE counselling processes,” added Srivastava.
NTA's shift in policy from previous board exams
Observing the chaos caused by the pandemic, the National Testing Agency had taken away the need for students to score a minimum of 75% in their board examinations. The students who appeared for their board exams over the last two years and dropped out to take another shot at JEE Main in hopes of a better score fear they will no longer be eligible for the 2023 counselling process.
Rui Rodrigues, counsel 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 which, Thate responded by stating that there's no point of appearing in exam if the candidate does not have the minimum score.
Observing the chaos caused by the pandemic, the National Testing Agency had taken away the need for students to score a minimum of 75% in their board examinations. The students who appeared for their board exams over the last two years and dropped out to take another shot at JEE Main in hopes of a better score fear they will no longer be eligible for the 2023 counselling process.
