New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday (January 10) granted relief to the petitioners who dropped out from their courses between November 5, 204 and November 18, 2024 to register for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Advanced.
A bench comprising Justice BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih granted the relief while hearing two petitions, including the one filed by 22 aspirants, challenging the notification by the joint admission board (JAB), which is entrusted to conduct the JEE-Advanced exam, bringing down the number of attempts from three to two for JEE-Advanced aspirants.
Apex court refused to interfere JAB’s decision to bring down number of attempts
The bench, while granting relief to the petitioners, however, refused to interfere with the JAB’s decision to bring down the number of attempts from three to two.
JAB reduced number of attempts from three to two for JEE-Advanced aspirants
The JAB, vide a press release issued on November 5 last year, first fixed the permissible number of attempts for JEE-Advanced at three and by another press release dated November 18 last year reduced the number of attempts to two.
What did the apex court say?
The top court noted that the JAB by a press release dated November 5 said that students who appeared for the class 12 examination in academic years 2023, 2024 and 2025 would be eligible to appear for the JEE-Advanced and by another press release dated November 18 reduced the eligibility only to two academic years – 2024 and 2025.
“If the students, acting on the said representation (of November 5, 2024), have dropped from their course with an understanding that they would be entitled to appear for JEE examination, the withdrawal of the promise on November 18, 2024 cannot be permitted to act to their detriment,” the bench said and added that students who dropped out between November 5 and November 18 last year would be permitted to register for the JEE-Advanced test.
What did the petitioners submit?
The counsel representing the petitioners submitted before the court that the petitioners dropped out of colleges to pursue the test conducted for admission to the IITs based on the promise made in the November 5 2024 press release and change in the decision has caused them irreparable damage.
“The JAB, vide its press release dated November 5, 2024, first fixed the permissible number of attempts for JEE-Advanced at three, only to change it abruptly vide another press release dated November 18, 2024, and thereby reducing the number of attempts to two,” one of the aspirants said in the plea before the top court.
