NEET, JEE Main: Supreme Court Dismisses Review Petition By 6 States
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a review plea by six opposition ruled states seeking postponement of JEE Main 2020 and NEET 2020, allowing the National Testing Agency to complete the entrance exams in September. A bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan heard the review petition filed by cabinet ministers of six opposition-ruled states. JEE Main 2020, for admission to engineering programmes in participating institutions, started on September 1. The National Entrance Cum Eligibility Test Undergraduate, or NEET 2020, is scheduled for September 13.
The bench, also comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice Krishna Murari, heard the review petition filed on August 31 by ministers of six states -- West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Maharashtra.
As India records over 3.31 million COVID-19 cases, the petitioners argued that as many as 25 lakh students will cumulatively appear for the two exams, risking their safety and life.
The plea, filed through advocate Sunil Fernandes, highlighted that with JEE being conducted in over 660 exam centres across the country for over 8 lakh students, roughly 1,443 students are appearing in the exam per JEE centre.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi previously said in a joint press conference of parties that the grounds on which their review petition had been filed has not been heard by the court so far and is different from those petitions which have been dismissed by the top court.
The review petition had aspects like safety, security and health of students, logistics which are required for holding the for 25 lakh students.
The review plea was filed on Friday in the backdrop of the Supreme Court on August 17 refusing to interfere with the NTA's plan of conducting engineering and medical entrance exams in September.
Mr Singhvi said that they have only sought deferment or postponement of NEET and JEE and no cancellations, as they do not want the academic year of students to be wasted.