The Bombay High Court has called on the Ministry of Education and National Testing Agency (NTA) to explain the significance of JEE's Main 75 per cent eligibility criterion.
“The matter is on hold for now but the judge has asked them why 75 per cent or top 20 percentile criteria has been introduced in the first place when there is already an entrance exam for qualifying the same,” said advocate Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, the petitioner.
The judge questioned how the 20-percentile criterion would be implemented and if the said data would be released by the boards. Data about the top 20 percentile was last published by the boards in 2019, the petitioners say. The Ministry of Education has added the 20 percentile criteria as a relaxation after the ministry received requests to change the criteria of 75% marks in the Class XII examination.
As per LiveLaw.in, the bench asked how meaningful this relaxation is for the students stating that the top 20 percentile for Maharashtra is even higher than CBSE. The court has asked the NTA to submit an intervention application and affidavit for the same. The date for the next hearing is yet to be announced.
The PIL filed by Advocate Sahai requested the NTA to remove the 75 per cent eligibility criterion for this attempt. The eligibility criterion was removed during the COVID years but in 2023, the criterion was brought back for admission in IITs and NITs.