JEE Main 2023: Bombay High Court dismisses plea seeking relaxation of Class 12 marks criterion
The National Testing Agency sought the dismissal of the plea and said its decision was “conscious and well-considered” and the relaxation of the criterion for previous academic years was “one-time measure”.
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A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjay V Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep V Marne was hearing a filed by child activist Anubha Srivastava Sahai, adding that the marks scored by such students were not a “true reflection of their actual ability”. (File photo) The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking relaxation of the criterion of scoring 75 per cent marks in Class 12 (Higher Secondary Examination) exams to appear for the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs).
“Petitioners cannot claim relaxation in eligibility criteria as a matter of right. Whether relaxation is to be extended or not is in the realm of policy decision of the government… the very same eligibility condition existed during the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 and the students seeking admission during those years accepted the said condition and the entire process of admissions was completed by following the said eligibility criteria. We do not find the said eligibility condition to be arbitrary in any manner,” division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjay V Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep V Marne held.
“It is also required to be borne in mind that the JEE is held pan India and thousands, perhaps lakhs, of students participate in the same. This would be another reason why this court would be loathe in interfering in the methodology of conducting JEE and / or admission process, particularly when the two sessions of JEE 2023 has already been conducted and JEE (Advanced) is scheduled to be held in a short while from now. 17. Resultantly, we do not find any merit in the petition. PIL petition is accordingly dismissed,” the bench added.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), through Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh and advocate Rui Rodrigues sought the dismissal of the plea and said its decision was “conscious and well-considered” and the relaxation of the criterion for previous academic years was a “one-time measure”.
According to the JEE Advanced brochure released this year, candidates should have secured at least 75 per cent in Class 12 board exams with the aggregate marks for SC, ST, and PwD candidates at least 65 per cent, or should be within the category-wise top 20 percentile of successful candidates of their respective boards.
The court was hearing a plea filed by child activist Anubha Srivastava Sahai that stated, “The marks scored by them is not a true reflection of their actual ability, therefore, those students with lower marks than the eligibility criteria (75 per cent) for this year’s examinations can score very high marks in the upcoming JEE Main 2023, and if a fair chance is denied to them that will affect the future (of) lakhs of bright (students).”
The director of the NTA, Binod Kumar Sahu, filed an affidavit in reply to the plea, stating that students who passed Class 12 in 2020-’21 and 2021-’22 were assessed based on their performance in the previous examinations as board exams were cancelled owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The agency said, “The relaxation was a one-time measure and was applicable for the Academic Years: 2020-2021, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 only.” It added that the same was mentioned and informed to the candidates through public notices and “an exception was made by relaxing the said requirement”.
It also said that the present eligibility criteria was deliberated and finalised in JEE Apex Board (JAB) meeting on December 12, 2022, after which the NTA published an information bulletin.
On January 10, the court refused a plea to postpone the JEE (Main), which was scheduled to be held from January 24 to 31.
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