A petition was filed by five students, who had passed class 12 in the academic year 2018-19 stating they were aggrieved by a clause in the Joint Engineering Entrance (JEE) Advanced 2021 information brochure that requires a candidate to take the examination only within two years of clearing their class 12, though the age limit as per the clause is 25 years.
As per the criteria set in the 2021 information brochure, the JEE Advanced 2020 was the students’ final attempt to secure admission into the IIT, the students claimed. The petitioners had cleared the JEE Mains in 2021 as well.
Upon hearing the petition, the Supreme Court on Tuesday had granted liberty to the students to make representation before the appropriate authority on the issue. A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar said it appeared that petitioners have directly approached the apex court without making representation to the appropriate authority of the Chairman, Joint Admission Board, JEE Advanced office, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur.
“Accordingly, we dispose of this writ petition with liberty to the petitioners to make representation before the appropriate authority of respondent number two (Chairman, Joint Admission Board),” the bench said. It also comprised of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar. The bench further added in its order that the representation is to be decided expeditiously, preferably before the closing date of submission of the application of JEE Advanced 2021, which is September 20.
We are not expressing any opinion one way or the other with regard to the correctness of the claim set up in the present petition, SC said.
The plea, filed through advocate Sumanth Nookala, also sought direction to the concerned authorities to consider the possibility to accommodate the petitioners and those, who have qualified JEE Mains 2021 in their third attempt, to appear for JEE Advanced 2021 scheduled next month as a matter of just and fair chance.
The plea said the petitioners had registered and appeared for JEE Advanced conducted in September last year, but could not perform well due to severe disruptions in preparation caused by COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown among other circumstances. This indulgence is sought for as a matter of a career saving opportunity, as the circumstances of the petitioners was no different from the absentees who have now availed the benefit of directly appearing for the JEE (Advance) 2021 conferred to them by the Joint Admission Board vide its press release dated October 13, 2020, it said.
The students had sought the apex court’s direction that the ineligibility prescribed in criterion 4 of clause 11 of the information brochure insofar as it renders candidates who cleared class 12 in 2019 ineligible from being able to appear for the IIT entrance in 2021 even after qualifying JEE Mains, is arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
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