HC Refuses to Postpone IIT JEE Mains Exam Scheduled in January

IIT JEE Mains

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) JEE Mains exam is slated to take place this month, and the Bombay High Court on Tuesday declined to postpone it. A split bench made up of Chief Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne ruled that postponing the pan-India exam in response to a Public Interest Litigation would not be suitable because it would harm thousands of IIT aspirants.

Anubha Sahai, a child rights activist, filed the PIL in order to delay the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains until March. The exam’s schedule between January 24 and January 31, 2023, as announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in a notification on December 15 was contested in the case.

The petitioner argued that the schedule was revealed with little advance warning. Exam dates used to be released three to four months in advance, providing students considerable time to study, according to Sahai.

However, the HC declined to provide any remedy. “If any orders are made today delaying the January tests, those decisions could also affect exams in the future. The extreme conditions that may prevent responders from holding the January examination do not seem to exist. The court stated that thousands of pupils must have been studying for exams.

Anil Singh, an additional solicitor general, spoke against the PIL on behalf of the NTA. JEE Mains tests are now planned in two sessions, in January and April, starting in 2019, he said. According to the ASG, students who perform poorly on the exam in January can retake it in April to do better, and the higher result will be taken into account.

There is no prohibition on a student showing up in April if they don’t show up in January, Singh continued. The court argued that because thousands of students would have already begun preparing, it was against changing the schedule. Your PIL might have an impact on 50,000 pupils, but not on five lahks. Even if an educational policy is bad, the courts shouldn’t get involved, according to a Supreme Court decision.