The Department of Higher Education has reconstituted the Joint Entrance Examination Apex Board (JAB) for the years 2026 and 2027. The move follows the completion of the previous board’s tenure, and aims to ensure the smooth conduct of JEE (Main) and JEE (Advanced) for admissions to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and other centrally funded technical institutions.

Leadership and members

Professor SK Jain, former Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), has been appointed as the honorary chairperson. Members include the directors of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, NIT Rourkela, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) Shibpur, Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad, IIIT (Public Private Partnership) Una, and Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing (IIITDM) Kancheepuram.

State representatives from Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh, along with nominees from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), National Informatics Centre (NIC), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and the Ministry of Education, will also serve on the board. The Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA) will act as the member secretary, reported NDTV. 

Role and secretariat

According to the notification, JAB will remain the final authority on rules and policies for JEE (Main), while coordinating with the organising IIT for JEE (Advanced). Its permanent secretariat will be housed in National Testing Agency (NTA), supported by the JEE Interface Group.

The Ministry noted, “NTA will provide the administrative and logistic support for the conduct of JEE (Main) across the country.”

The reconstitution has been approved by the Union Education Minister,  Dharmendra Pradhan.