NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking postponement of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main and National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET).

The NEET medical entrance exam and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission into the IITs will be held as per schedule, the Supreme Court said today.
The Court has given their verdict regarding the two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) today which were filed for JEE Main and NEET 2020. The order has been given to not postponed JEE Main and NEET any further.
“The careers of students cannot be put under jeopardy,” the top court said as it dismissed a petition by 11 students to defer the exams due to the corona virus crisis.
The two exams are scheduled to be conducted in September. “Life cannot be stopped. We have to move ahead with all safeguards and all… Are students ready to waste one whole year? Education should be opened up. Covid may continue for a year more.
Are you going to wait another year? Do you know what the loss to the country and peril to the students is?,” Justice Arun Mishra, who headed a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court said.
The petition was filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava on behalf of 11 students from 11 states across the country who had moved the top court seeking relief amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The engineering entrance is scheduled to take place from September 1 to September 6 while the medical entrance is slated for September 13.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the National Testing Agency (NTA), informed the court that all safeguards will be taken for conducting the exams. While the JEE is scheduled from September 1 to 6, the NEET exam is scheduled for September 13.The plea was in favor of conducting key entrance examinations only after normalcy is restored post-COVID-19 crisis.
“Supreme Court asked the government and they said they want to conduct exams by following all safety guidelines. The government must take a call now. Will follow up with President and PMO,” Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, President of the India Wide Parents’ Association, told India TV Digital.

12:08 PM: The bench says that it has taken into record the submission of Solicitor General that exams will be held with adequate precautions. Says, there is no ground to interfere with policy decision. Dismisses the plea.
PM: How can you assume that the authorities are not aware of the situation?’, Justice Arun Mishra ask advocate Alakh.. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for NTA, says that exams should be conducted, and adequate precautions will be taken.
‘Are you not demanding that Courts should re-open? Why can’t exams be held with precautions?”, Justice Arun Mishra asks Advocate Alakh. ‘If exams are not held, won’t it be a loss to the country? Students will lose the academic year’, Justice Arun Mishra says.
‘Life should move on even in COVID-19 times. Can we just stop exams? We should move on’: Justice Arun Misra on a plea seeking postponement of JEE/NEET
The petition also seeks an increase in the examination centers so as to provide one exam center in every district of India. It seeks fresh opportunities to JEE and NEET aspirants to submit their application forms and choose exam centers afresh.

The petition mentions that the NTA decided to conduct JEE through online mode and NEET offline at 161 centres across India, which are “utterly arbitrary, whimsical and violative of fundamental rights to life of lakhs of the affected students.”

If further says: NTA has indefinitely postponed the National Council of Hotel Management Joint Entrance Examination (NCHM-JEE) 2020, scheduled to be conducted on 22.06.2020 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, now when the COVID-19 crisis has much more worsened, the NTA is still conducting JEE Main and NEET exams.

Meanwhile, parents of four students also moved the Supreme Court urging it to direct that JEE and NEET entrance exams be conducted in September as per revised schedule released by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on July 3.
Petitions say there is an “imminent need” to stick to the second revised schedule by the NTA. The petition says that the admission process is time-bound and the entire admission schedule in a time regulated process.
For JEE exams, petitioners argue that every delay at any stage of the admission process will have a direct and adverse impact upon the academic year of the students. It said such a delay would impact the Post Graduate studies and career opportunities of the students.
(With Agency Inputs ).

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