JEE Advanced 2020, 2021 candidates move Supreme Court for extra chance in 2022

NEW DELHI: Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2020 and 2021 candidates who could not qualify or passed with low ranks in the exam for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have approached the Supreme Court demanding an extra chance in JEE Advanced 2022 exam, according to the Live Law. The petitioners have challenged a notice which makes them ineligible for the benefit of the extra chance, the LiveLaw report said.

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The petitioners referred to the notice issued by the Joint Admission Board regarding the eligibility criteria to appear in JEE Advanced 2022. According to the notice, an extra chance will be given to candidates who:

• first appeared in Class 12 (or equivalent) examination in 2020 or 2021 AND successfully registered for JEE (Advanced) 2021 but did NOT appear
• first appeared in Class 12 in 2020

“The Joint Admission Board of JEE (Advanced) in the first JAB meeting held on December 14, 2021 deliberated on the numerous representations received regarding the eligibility criteria and was of the view that the exceptional circumstances and hardships faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic required some relaxation to be given. These relaxations are special one-time measures only,” said the notice on the official website – jeeadv.ac.in.

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The notice doesn’t talk about students who appeared in JEE Advanced during the pandemic however didn’t qualify or got low ranks, the petitioners argued.

Referring to the apex court’s decision in another case where it observed that the question of unequal treatment does not arise if there are different circumstances, the plea argued, “Now in the present case there are no change in circumstances under which relaxation is being given to the students who failed to qualify the preliminary exam – JEE Main and by default could not sit for JEE Advanced; and to those who did qualify JEE Main but did not register for JEE Advanced; and to those who did not even register for JEE Main in the first place but such relaxation is being denied to the petitioners who qualified JEE Main both times and JEE Advanced both times in 2020 and 2021 under same circumstances.”