Finally, in what seems like a ray of hope for a few JEE aspirants who missed a chance at JEE Advanced, the Delhi High Court (HC) has delivered some good news. During the hearing today, March 7, the HC was considering the matter of relaxing the "Two attempts in Two consecutive years" criteria for students who did not appear for JEE (Advanced) twice, or even once in 2021 and 2022, to be allowed to appear for JEE (Advanced) 2023.
The court has observed that if a strong case is presented, the petitioners will be allowed to fill out the exam forms to appear for their compensatory JEE Advanced exam. This has raised the hope of the 67 petitioners who filed the petition with the HC. As Shubhang Sheel, one of the petitioners, exclaimed, "This seems like positive news, we might finally get the chance we've missed out on so far." Sheel had missed out on his 2022 attempt due to technical glitches.
Further, the HC has also issued a notice to the Centre seeking a response to the plea. It may be recalled that the Joint Admission Board (JAB) had allowed the 2020 Class XII batch a relaxation for JEE 2022 due to the pandemic. Though the relaxation order came without any order of extension by the Ministry of Education (MoE) or the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The JEE Cell of IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), Guwahati had made it clear that no relaxation will be issued now as no condition of medical emergency exists.
While the court has given two weeks for the Centre to respond to the notice, the Joint Admission Board (JAB) is reportedly preparing a counter-affidavit. The next hearing for the case is scheduled for March 23.
Why are students asking for compensatory attempt?
Petitioners who are students who passed their Class XII exam in 2021 and are preparing for JEE (Advanced) 2023 argue that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they faced severe mental stress and financial distress, and their education was already severely affected by the outbreak in 2020. Shubhang pointed out when he previously spoke with EdexLive that the Class XII batch of 2021 is the one that has been most impacted by COVID, with their final year of the school held online and JEE caught between Delta and Omicron variants. "(We)...suffered the worst impact in the context on both our in-school education and after-school education," they wrote in their letter to the Education Minister.
They also point out that the eligibility criteria for JEE (Advanced) 2023 are arbitrary as students who passed their Class XII exam in 2020 were granted relaxation to appear in JEE (Advanced) 2022, but the same is not being granted to them. "The discriminatory treatment given by the Respondent to the class 12th pass outs of 2021 is nothing less than a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India," states the petition.
For context, a student gets only two consecutive attempts for JEE Advanced from the board year onwards, while three attempts for JEE Main. Although the 2021 batch could appear for JEE Main 2023, they remain debarred from JEE Advanced 2023.
Although the 2021 batch could appear for JEE Main 2023, they remain debarred from JEE Advanced 2023 leading to disappointment among the petitioners like Sheel, who previously shared, "In a mock test from yesterday, I scored a whopping 236, which places me in the top 100, so you can only imagine what I am missing out on."
