Opposition-led state govts to file petition seeking postponement of JEE, NEET on August 28

State governments led by non-BJP Opposition parties, including those led by the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, will file a review petition in Supreme Court on Friday demanding postponement of JEE and NEET examination owing to the worsening Covid-19 pandemic.

The petition will be jointly filed by the states -- Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Puducherry, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. -- led by the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena and JMM.

The move comes against the backdrop of a meeting of seven non-BJP Opposition Chief Ministers called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday during which it was decided that they should approach the Supreme Court.

Read: Seven CMs to jointly move SC against conducting NEET, JEE exams

The idea of moving the court was mooted by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the meeting. In the meeting, Sonia had asked Banerjee to work out with Amarinder Singh and other chief ministers on the legal recourse.

The Chief Ministers -- Banerjee (TMC), Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena), Punjab's Amarinder Singh (Congress), Jharkhand's Hemant Soren (JMM), Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot (Congress), Chhattisgarh's Bhupesh Baghel (Congress) and Puducherry's V Narayanasamy (Congress) -- agreed to the need for filing a review petition urging the Supreme Court to reconsider its recent order rejecting the postponement of the entrance examinations. DMK has also supported the move though it is not in the government.

While the AAP and the CPI(M), which have governments in Delhi and Kerala respectively, did not attend the meeting, both the parties have come out in the open against conducting the entrance tests amid the pandemic. Parties like the RJD and the CPI are also against the move to conduct the exams as scheduled.

The Centre has categorically stated that it would not postpone the exams with IIT heads saying that not conducting JEE now would result in zero academic year. The Supreme Court had ordered in favour of the Centre in conducting the JEE and NEET.