SC to consider on Friday petition against JEE Main, NEET

The Supreme Court would on Friday consider a review petition filed by six Opposition-ruled states' Cabinet ministers against the August 17 order which allowed holding of JEE Main and NEET (UG) examinations in September.

A fresh bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice B R Gavai and Justice Krishna Murari would take up the matter in chambers as per the Supreme Court rules on considering review petition.

Of the three-judge bench, which passed the order on August 17, Justice Arun Mishra has retired on Wednesday, necessitating setting up a new bench.

The court had on August 17 said though there is the coronavirus pandemic situation, ultimately life has to go on and the career of the students cannot be put on peril for long, and full academic year cannot be wasted.

The petitioners claimed that the court has failed to consider the safety and security of students' life, besides teething logistical difficulties.

The JEE Main exams, scheduled between September 1 and 6 are already underway and the NEET (UG) is to be held on September 13.

The petition was filed by advocate Sunil Fernandes on behalf of Moloy Ghatak, a Cabinet Minister from West Bengal, Rameshwar Oraon from Jharkhand, Raghu Sharma from Rajasthan, Amarjeet Bhagat from Chhattisgarh, Balbir Singh Sidhu from Punjab and Uday Ravindra Samant from Maharashtra.

They claim, "The SC order is cryptic, non-speaking, does not discuss, let alone enumerate the various aspects and complexities, involved in a matter of this magnitude and complex nature."

The petition says that the intervening months from April to September 2020 were characterised by inaction, confusion, lethargy and inertia, but now the Union Government has suddenly woken up and as a knee-jerk reaction, haphazardly and hurriedly fixed the dates of the examinations which will prove to be worse than the disease itself.

It also says that if the examinations are postponed until October, as advised by many experts, there will be no loss of Academic Year 2020-21. This would also enable the government to arrange adequate transportation facilities for the students to reach the centres.

Apart from the coronavirus pandemic situation, students from different regions are affected by heavy rains and floods. It would make the situation worse for the students, the petition claims.

According to the National Testing Agency, approximately 9.53 Lakh and 15.97 lakh students have registered for JEE Main exams for admission to engineering colleges and NEET (UG), 2020 for admission to medical colleges, respectively.