The Supreme Court ruled Friday that petitioners who left their courses between November 5, 2024, and November 18, 2024, will be permitted to retake the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced), providing relief to students who had contested the decision to reduce the number of attempts from three to two.
The court, however, declined to overrule the authorities’ decision to limit the number of JEE (Advanced) tries.
Senior Advocate K Parmeshwar, representing the petitioners, argued, “Initially, it was decided to allow three attempts, but within thirteen days, it was revoked, which is arbitrary. On Nov. 5, you held out a promise that students would be eligible. Decisions have been made based on that, which are irreversible.”
Speaking on behalf of the Joint Admission Board (JAB), Solicitor General Tushar Mehta justified the action. “The decision was taken after it was found that students who had enrolled in regular engineering courses were focusing on JEE exams instead of their B.Tech coursework. This decision was made in the students’ interest and is a pure policy decision,” he told the bench.
After hearing the arguments, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih noted: “In the press release dated Nov. 5, 2024, a clear promise was made to students that those who appeared for the Class 12 exam in 2023, 2024, and 2025 would be eligible for JEE (Advanced). If students, acting on this representation, withdrew from their courses believing they would be entitled to appear, the withdrawal of this promise on Nov. 18, 2024, cannot work to their detriment.
“In the peculiar facts and circumstances, without commenting on the merits of JAB’s decision, students who withdrew from their courses and dropped out between Nov. 5, 2024, and Nov. 18, 2024, will be permitted to register for JEE (Advanced).”
The court clarified that it was not questioning the wisdom of the authorities. “For valid reasons, if respondent No. 2 [the JAB] restricted the zone of consideration to two years instead of three, no fault could be found with it,” the order stated.
The court’s order came in response to a plea by aspirants challenging the reduction in the attempt limit for JEE (Advanced). The JAB declared on November 5, 2024, that students would be permitted three chances to take the test. On November 18, 2024, only 13 days later, the ruling was overturned, lowering the maximum number of attempts to two.
