The hearing of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2023 plea pertaining to an extra attempt and the relaxation of the 75 per cent eligibility criteria has been postponed. Scheduled to be heard today, February 21, by the Bombay High Court, the case has yet to be assigned a fresh date.
The postponement came due to the unavailability of the Chief Justice of Bombay HC RD Dhanuka for two days, February 21-22. "Hon'ble Chief Justice of Mumbai HC is not sitting for 2 days. Will update next date once we get. #JEEMains," tweeted advocate-activist Anubha Shrivastava, who filed the plea.on December 26.
It was initially demanded that the exam be postponed as it was being conducted on very short notice of only 40 days and the 75 per cent eligibility criteria be removed. However, the court refused to intervene with the scheduled dates, after which an extra attempt was asked for in the plea, along with a relaxation of the eligibility criteria.
According to the eligibility criteria, a student needs to either secure a minimum of 75 per cent in the Class XII Board exam or be placed among the top 20 scoring students to apply for JEE Main 2023. The rule was in place in the pre-pandemic years and was reintroduced this year.
Putting out this criterion as unfair, Anubha, in a previous conversation with EdexLive, said, "Students from Boards that will not declare their top 20 percentile will have to get a certificate from the Board saying that they belong to the top 20 percentile. If the students are unable to do so, their 20 percentile will be calculated according to CBSE, which goes beyond 85 per cent."
