Delhi HC seeks response of Centre on plea seeking relaxation for students appearing in JEE Advance

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Central Government and other respondents and sought a response to a plea seeking relaxation for the students appearing in the JEE Advance 2023.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Central Government and other respondents and sought a response to a plea seeking relaxation for the students appearing in the JEE Advance 2023. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued a notice and sought a response within two weeks. The matter is listed on March 23 for further hearing.

The plea has been moved by 67 students seeking a relaxation in the JEE Advanced criterion of "Two attempts in Two consecutive years" to the students who did not appear in the JEE (Advanced) twice or even once yet in the preceding years 2021 and 2022 be allowed to appear in the JEE (Advanced) 2023 as a special provision in JEE (Advanced) 2023 for the 2021 class 12th pass outs or its equivalent. The Petitioners have approached through advocate Kunal Malik and prayed for a direction to the respondents for considering the case of the Petitioners who are identically placed like that of the 12th pass out of 2020 and have been deprived of appearing in the Joint Entrance Examination [Advanced] 2023 because of the prevalent practice of "Two attempts in Two consecutive years".

It is submitted that none of the Petitioners has availed the two attempts in two consecutive years in the preceding years. It is also submitted that the Petitioners are students who have passed their 12th class or equivalent examination in 2021 and are preparing for the JEE [Mains] and [Advanced] 2023 for getting admission to the various IITs of the country.

It is further submitted that the class 12th pass outs of 2021 faced severe mental stress, anxiety, depression and various incompensable damages due to the fatal delta covid wave of 2021 that range from financial distress to loss of family members. This was after their education was already severely affected by the covid outbreak in 2020 for more than one year. It is further submitted that due to unclear covid situations, many students took online coaching which was not as good as of today, also including the disparity of online education that has been a matter of international interest for the years that passed. To add numbers to this disparity, even the offline batches were taken online near the Omicron covid outbreak of January 2022. It is submitted that the Petitioners were adversely affected by the pandemic.

The Petitioners are meritorious students who had made their preparations for the JEE examination but could not use their opportunity of the JEE (Advanced) Examination mainly because of the ongoing pandemic. The students who are class 12th pass outs of 2021 as per the prevalent practice could only appear in the JEE (Advanced) Examination for 2021 and 2022. They are not eligible to appear for the JEE (Advanced) Examination in 2023 and are approaching this Court for relaxation in the JEE Advanced criterion of "Two attempts in Two consecutive years" through which, the Petitioners may be allowed to sit in the JEE (Advanced) Examination to be held in 2023, the petition stated.

It is also submitted that the eligibility Criteria 3 and 4 framed by Joint Admission Board (JAB) for JEE (Advanced) 2023 is arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India in regard to the relaxation granted in JEE (Advanced) 2022 for students passed out class 12 in 2020 considering that the students passed out class 12th in 2021 faced almost identical or even worse circumstances. In this regard it may be noted that the students who passed out in the class 12th exam in 2020 were granted the relaxation to appear in JEE (Advanced), 2022 if they haven't appeared in JEE (Advanced), 2021 or JEE (Advanced), 2020 or neither of them due to hardship faced due to Covid-19.

It is submitted that the hardship faced by students due to the Covid-19 wave in 2021 was well acknowledged by Respondent for students of 12th pass out of 2020. It is respectfully submitted that similar treatment should also be accorded to the 12th pass out of 2021 since their studies were also adversely affected by the Covid-19 wave.

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. (ANI)

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