JEE Main 2024: Delhi high court dismisses plea challenging normalisation procedure

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has dismissed a petition challenging the procedure of normalisation score on the basis of percentile followed by the NTA for the JEE Main exam for admission into Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The bench of justice C Hari Shankar said, “The very fact that an examination such as the IIT JEE, which governs entrance to IITs, NITs and other centrally funded technical institutions, may be subject matter of a court proceeding, is itself a serious issue.”

The court found that the petition filed by Setu Vinit Goneka doesn’t meet the threshold. “The fact that the petitioner has sought to challenge the marking process despite having at all times being fully aware thereof, after having attempted the examination and after the marks have been declared, even otherwise, on merits, I am not of the view that the challenge deserves to be entertained,” the court said.

The court noted that the petitioner appeared for the JEE (Main) examination on January 27 and the result of the examination was declared on February 12 as a percentile, in accordance with the normalisation process envisaged in the information bulletin applicable to the IIT JEE examination. “The entire challenge of the petitioner appears to be somewhat nebulous,” it added.

Petitioner aware of the procedure

The court found that the petitioner was aware of the normalisation procedure followed by the IIT and it was in full consciousness of the procedure that the petitioner went ahead and undertook the examination.

“It is a well-settled position, in administrative law, that a candidate cannot, in awareness of the system of conducting an examination and the marking process adopted in that regard, challenge the examination or the manner in which it is conducted, after the result are declared,” the court said in the order.

Also read JEE Main 2024 Paper 2 Result Live: Updates on JEE Mains BArch, BPlan session 1 scorecard at jeemain.nta.ac.in

‘Normalisation is statistical process’

The court also added that the process of normalisation, on percentile basis, is a detailed statistical process. The advocate appearing for the National Testing Agency (NTA) mentioned that the procedure and a formula, which is adopted worldwide, and was used by the NTA on the basis of the recommendation of a high-powered committee in November 2018, which was subsequently reviewed in October 2020.

“Needless to say, this procedure applies across the country to every student who undertakes the IIT JEE examinations,” the court added.