JEE Advanced: SC Dismisses Petition Seeking Relaxation Of 75% Eligibility Criterion

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking relaxation of the 75% eligibility criteria for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2023 exam.

The criterion of 75% aggregate marks in Class XII (or equivalent) Board examination had been waived during the COVID-19 pandemic, but subsequently revived.

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and KV Viswanathan was hearing a plea challenging an eligibility criterion for JEE (Advanced), the admission test for undergraduate programmes in Indian Institutes of Technology, reported LiveLaw.in.

“2016, 2017, 2018…This condition has always been there that students must have secured 75 per cent… Why, then, should we interfere?” Justice Dhulia said.

The counsel for the petitioners argued that candidates’ fundamental rights were violated due to National Testing Agency’s decision to not extend waiver of the academic performance-related criteria after the coronavirus pandemic.

“This condition was waived during COVID-19. During that time, the National Testing Agency allowed students to take the JEE Advanced examination without the assessment in Class XII. These students who were allowed during the pandemic are not being permitted to take the examination because this condition is brought back. Some of these students have obtained more than 98.8 per cent in JEE Mains,” the lawyer made his point.

“Why don’t you approach the high court?” Justice Dhulia countered.

“This would have pan-India implications,” the counsel responded.

“First, you think about the petitioners whom you are representing,” the judge shot back.