Petition filed for postponement for JEE Main and NEET 2020 dismissed by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking postponement of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main and National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2020. The engineering entrance JEE Main is scheduled to take place from September 1 to September 6 while the medical entrance  NEET UG 2020 is slated for September 13, 2020.

The bench said that it has taken into record the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for NTA that exams will be held with adequate precautions, so there is no ground to interfere with policy decisions. Court dismisses the plea saying that the postponement of the NEET/JEE will put the ‘career of students in peril’.

The petition seeking postponement of these entrance exams was filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava on behalf of 11 students from 11 states across the country that had moved the top court seeking relief amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In the petition, the students demanded of conducting key entrance examinations only after normalcy is restored post-COVID-19 crisis. 

Plea also seeks an increase in the examination centers so as to provide one exam center in every district of India. It also seeks fresh opportunities to JEE and NEET aspirants to submit their application forms and choose exam centers afresh.

On the other hand, 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.