The Bombay High Court in the case Anubha Shrivastava Sahai v. National Testing Agency observed and has refused to order relaxation of minimum 75 percent in 12th standard board as the score eligibility criterion for the admission to IITs, NITs, IIITs, and CFTIs/GFTIs through JEE Mains and JEE Advance examinations.
The division bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep V Marne in the case observed and has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation, wherein seeking relaxation of the eligibility criteria.
Therefore, the court stated that, at this stage this court cannot consider. It being upon the government to decide.
The court in the case informed the parties that the order copy will be made available so that further steps can be taken.
It has also been opined by the said court that relaxing eligibility criteria will affect other students who have made the cut. Therefore, the limitation of the court have to be seen as the exam is conducted pan India.
Further, the query of court with regards to the purpose of the eligibility criteria, an affidavit has been filed by the NTA wherein stating that the eligibility criteria of minimum 75 percent in boards for admission to NITs, IIITs, CFTIs/GFTIs is a sound, thus, well considered policy decision.
However, the NTA did not comment on the same criteria for admission to IITs, as the authority is not being responsible for conducting JEE Advance and deciding eligibility criteria for IITs.
It has also been stated in the affidavit filed that conducting a third session for JEE Mains in the month of May in 2023 is unsustainable. Therefore, the court also rejected the prayer for postponement of JEE Mains 2023 examination in the month of January, 2023. The petitioner in the plea also contended that many candidates are from batches that were not assessed on the basis of performance in the previous years as the board exams were cancelled due to COVID pandemic and as per the plea moved there are students with less than 75% marks but could perform well in JEE Mains and if fair chance is denied to them, the same will affect the future of lakhs for bright students.
The plea filed stated that the NTA notification came at the end of the academic year and suddenly, the eligibility criteria should not be changed as the students have been preparing with the expectation that it will be the same as that of the last year.