Delhi HC dismisses plea seeking relaxation for students appearing for JEE Advance

New Delhi [India], May 3 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking relaxation for students appearing in the JEE Advance 2023.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav dismissed the petition moved by Budha Bhushan Anand Londhe and others.
The detailed order is awaited.
The plea was filed by 67 students seeking a relaxation in the JEE Advanced criterion of "Two attempts in Two consecutive years" for students, who did not appear in the exam twice or even once in 2021 and 2022. They requested that they be allowed to appear in the JEE (Advanced) 2023 through a special provision enabling Class 12 pass-outs or its equivalent in 2021 to take the exam.
During a hearing on the plea on March 7, the high court issued a notice to the Centre and other stakeholders in the matter.
The petitioners had prayed for a direction to the respondents for considering their case, claiming that they were identically placed as the Class 12 pass-outs of 2020 and were deprived of appearing in the JEE (Advanced) 2023 because of the prevalent practice of "Two attempts in Two consecutive years".
It was submitted that none of the petitioners availed the two attempts in two consecutive years.
It was also submitted that the petitioners passed their Class 12 boards or their equivalent in 2021 and are preparing for the JEE [Mains] and [Advanced] 2023 in the quest of gaining admission to the IITs.
The plea read, "The class 12th pass outs of 2021 faced severe mental stress, anxiety, depression and various in-compensable damages due to the fatal delta covid wave of 2021 that range from financial distress to loss of family members. This was after their education was already severely affected by the covid outbreak in 2020 for more than one year."
It was also submitted that due to an unclear Covid situation, many students "took online coaching which was not as good as today" and also cited the "disparity of online education that has been a matter of international interest for the years that passed".
"To add numbers to this disparity, even the offline batches were taken online near the Omicron covid outbreak of January 2022. It is submitted that the petitioners were adversely affected by the pandemic," the plea stated.
"The petitioners were students who had made their preparations for the JEE examination but could not use their opportunity of the JEE (Advanced) Examination mainly because of the ongoing pandemic. The students who are class 12th pass outs of 2021 as per the prevalent practice could only appear in the JEE (Advanced) Examination for 2021 and 2022," the plea stated
"They are not eligible to appear for the JEE (Advanced) Examination in 2023 and are approaching this Court for a relaxation in the JEE Advanced criterion of "Two attempts in Two consecutive years" through which, the Petitioners may be allowed to sit in the JEE (Advanced) Examination to be held in 2023," it added.
It was also submitted that the eligibility Criteria 3 and 4 framed by Joint Admission Board (JAB) for JEE (Advanced) 2023 is arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, with regard to the relaxation granted in JEE (Advanced) 2022 for students, who cleared the Class 12 boards in 2020, considering that the petitioners cleared their Class 12 boards in 2021 and faced almost identical or even worse circumstances.
"In this regard, it may be noted that the students who passed out in the class 12th exam in 2020 were granted the relaxation to appear in JEE (Advanced), 2022 if they haven't appeared in JEE (Advanced), 2021 or JEE (Advanced), 2020 or neither of them due to hardship faced due to Covid-19," the plea stated.
It was submitted that the hardship faced by students due to the Covid wave in 2021 was well acknowledged.
It was also submitted that similar treatment should be accorded to the Class 12 pass-outs of 2021 as their studies were similarly affected by the Covid wave as in 2020.
"The discriminatory treatment of the respondent to the Class 12 pass-outs of 2021 is nothing less than a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution," the petitioners said.