The Supreme Court dismissed a plea against the 75 per cent eligibility criteria of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main and Advanced examinations today, May 29. The plea, filed by a few students, sought relaxation in the criteria, pointing out that students who did not meet the criteria were unable to attend the JEE counselling, which is due in June.

According to the eligibility criteria, only those students who have achieved a minimum of 75 per cent or have secured a position among the top 20 percentile scorers in their board exams are eligible to apply for admissions in esteemed government institutions such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Centrally Funded Technical Institute (CFTI), and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs).

"#SupremeCourtofIndia dismisses plea against rule requiring JEE Advanced candidates to have 75% or more marks in their class 12th board exams, which, the petitioners argued, barred even those candidates who did very well in JEE Mains," mentioned a tweet by LiveLaw. "We have to defer to experts," Justice Dhulia J stated, during the hearing.

The dismissal comes as a blow to students, who were anxious about their chances of obtaining a seat in government institutions this year. It may be recalled that a plea against the eligibility criteria was first filed in the Bombay High Court in January by Advocate Anubha Sahai, which was also dismissed. Advocate Sahai had then initiated this plea in the Supreme Court.