Six Opposition-ruled states seek postponement, move SC over NEET, JEE

Congress, TMC, JMM, NCP and Shiv Sena seek postponement of exams

Ministers of six Opposition-ruled states moved the Supreme Court Friday against its order allowing holding of NEET and JEE physically, saying it failed to secure students' “right to life” and ignored “teething logistical difficulties” to be faced in conducting them during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The apex court’s August 17 order allowing the exams has become a political battle as the ministers from the six states — ruled by parties like Congress, TMC, JMM, NCP and Shiv Sena — sought postponement of the exams “in a manner that achieves the twin objectives of ensuring that the academic year of the students is not wasted and their health and safety is not compromised.” The review plea has been filed by ministers from West Bengal (Moloy Ghatak), Jharkhand (Rameshwar Oraon), Rajasthan (Raghu Sharma), Chhattisgarh (Amarjeet Bhagat), Punjab (B S Sidhu) and Maharashtra (Uday Ravindra Sawant).

The plea, filed through advocate Sunil Fernandes, said the apex court order fails to satisfy the safety and security concerns of students who have to appear for the exams.

The top court had refused to interfere with the conduct of the medical and engineering entrance exams, saying that life must go on and students can't lose a precious year due to the pandemic.

National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts both the exams, has decided to hold NEET on September 13 and JEE Main for entrance to under-graduate Engineering Colleges and Institutes from September 1 to 6.  The apex court had dismissed a plea by one Sayantan Biswas and others seeking direction to NTA to postpone them after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured that all safeguards would be taken.

Terming the decision to conduct exam as irrational, the plea said that the top court failed to appreciate that the Union government had adequate time to establish at least one centre for every district for NEET (UG) and JEE (Mains) rather than having several centres in one district.

The petition said mere fact that lakhs of students have registered for the exam is not indicative of their consent or their willingness or their desire to attend physical exams.

It said the August 17 order is “cryptic, non-speaking” and does not discuss various aspects and complexities involved in a matter of this magnitude.

The plea said that only two reasons given by the court — life must go on and students should not lose an academic year — do not constitute an authoritative and comprehensive judicial scrutiny of the issue.
 

It said that apex court's observation that “Life Must Go On” may have very sound philosophical underpinnings but cannot be a substitute for valid legal reasoning and logical analysis of the various aspects involved in the conduct of the NEET UG and JEE exams.

“It is submitted that if the impugned order dated August 17, 2020 is not reviewed then grave and irreparable harm and injury would befall on the student community of our country and not only will the health, welfare and safety of the students/candidates appearing for the NEET/JEE examinations would stand imperilled but also the public health at large would be in severe jeopardy in these Covid-19 pandemic times,” the plea said.

The petition said that as per the NIA press release, approximately 9.53 lakhs and 15.97 lakhs students have been registered for JEE (Main) and NEET (UG) 2020 respectively.  The plea said that JEE 
 

Mains is slated to be conducted over 660 exam centres with 9.53 lakhs students appearing for it, roughly 1,443 students per centre.