The verdict in the plea against JEE Main 75 per cent eligibility criteria relaxation is expected to come out tomorrow, Wednesday, May 3. The Bombay High Court, today, Tuesday, May 2, heard the plea seeking relaxation of the criteria.
What happened so far?
During the hearing, petitioner Anubha Shrivastava Sahai highlighted in her argument that some of the students from COVID-affected batches who took a drop will not be eligible this year. She also added that many states have not released the data for the top 20 percentile since 2019.
On the other hand, as per LiveLaw, ASG Anil Singh said on behalf of the National Testing Agency (NTA) that despite being implemented in 2017, the criteria have not been challenged yet.
“In 2021 and 2022, the condition remained in the brochure but we issued a separate letter that the relaxation was one time due to COVID-19. So, it is not that we have removed the condition at any time. It always existed,” he explained.
Singh said that the students wanted better JEE scores next year and did not take the benefit of relaxation that year.
Sahai argued in the court that if the Centre had notified about the re-implementation before the counselling process last year, many students would not have taken a drop.
“I also highlighted that since the evaluation method was changed as per the 70-30 criteria for CBSE, it had affected the Class XII score of students,” Advocate Anubha Sahai told EdexLive.
The court has adjourned the order for May 2. However, it mentioned that considering that the exam is pan-Indian, it will be unfair to many of the students who have scored more than 75%.
The 75 per cent eligibility criteria
The eligibility criteria state that a student should have at least 75% marks in their Class XII Board exams in order to be eligible for admission to (IITs) Indian Institutes of Technology or National Institutes of Technology (NITs). The criteria was scrapped for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, when the NTA reinstated the criteria this year, the decision was met with backlash from the aspirants.
