JEE Main 2023: Students mulling over appeal for extra attempt in May

Session II of JEE Main 2023 is scheduled for April and students claim that with their Board exams also scheduled around the same time, their performance is likely to be impacted
File photo of Bombay High Court | (Pic: PTI)
File photo of Bombay High Court | (Pic: PTI)

A day after the Bombay High Court refused to allow the postponement of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main Session I, Advocate Anubha Shrivastava has hinted that an Intervention Application for interim relief might be filed, seeking an extra attempt in May for the aspirants. 

The Bombay High Court bench led by Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne said that postponing a national-level exam would have a "cascading effect". "Even though the judges understood the plight of the students, they refused to postpone the exam. We mentioned the clash of dates with other Board exams both in January during Session I and in April during Session II, and the judge asked us to file for interim relief. We will be discussing with the students on what step to take next," Shrivastava told EdexLive. 

The Bombay High Court was informed that the notification for the exam, Session I which is scheduled to begin on January 24, was announced with less than 40 days to go on December 15, leaving them with barely any time to prepare. However, the bench opined that even if students were unable to appear for the exam in January, or performed poorly in the first attempt, they could always appear for the second attempt in April. 

"This solution does not work out well enough for the freshers, who will have their Board exams during the April JEE Main Session. So they might end up performing poorly in both attempts. There is a lot of pressure on the students. We understand that the NTA (National Testing Agency) wants to get the academic calendar back on track, but they cannot do this at the cost of the students. There was delay in counselling last year from the authorities. They must not make the students pay for that," Shrivastava added. 

Building on the argument against the 75% eligibility criteria for admission in NITs and IIITs for the top 20 percentile, Shrivastava said that either top 20 percentile or a score of 75% or above in the Boards would make it a level playing field for students from state boards competing with boards such as ICSE, whose top 20 percentile often score around 90% in their Boards, she claimed. Sources from the Ministry of Education hinted today that the top 20 percentile of each board will be eligible for admission in IITs and NITs and appear for JEE Advanced, even if they have not scored more than 75%. 

"The 20 percentile criteria will help those candidates who are short of 75 per cent aggregate in their Class XII Boards. Discussions were held and since many of the top 20 percentile candidates in a number of state boards score below 75 per cent marks or 350 marks, the ministry decided that if a candidate is in the top 20 percentile he or she is eligible," a source said, as per PTI.

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