JEE, NEET 2020: SC To Hear Review Plea By 6 Non-BJP Ruled States Seeking Postponement Of Exams

JEE, NEET 2020: Chief Ministers of Non-BJP ruled states have filed a review plea seeking reconsideration of SC's decision to hold JEE 2020 and NEET 2020 exams amid the rising cases of Coronavirus in the country.

Students stand in queue awaiting their turn to enter the exam centre. To facilitate students the Bihar government has announced that seven intra-state inter-city express special trains will be run in from September 4 to September 15, to transport of JEE, NEET, and NDA aspirants. Image (PTI)

NEET-JEE: The Supreme Court will hear the review plea filed by six opposition states against its order allowing the Central Government to conduct medical and engineering entrance exams -Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and the National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET) on Friday. Also Read|Dip In Number Of Students Appearing For JEE Main Exams This Year? Here's What Statistics Say The opposition ministers had said the top court's order failed to secure students' "right to life" and ignored "teething logistical difficulties" to be faced in conducting the exams during the coronavirus pandemic. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts both exams, is holding JEE Main Exams from September 1 to September 6, while NEET will be held on September 13. A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari will consider the review plea in chambers. The top court on 17 August had refused the plea for deferment of medical and engineering entrance exams in plea seeing directions for postponement and cancellation of the exams scheduled to be held in September. Since Justice Arun Mishra has retired, who had passed the order being challenged, the new bench will be led by Justice Ashok Bhushan. The matter will be considered in the Judges chamber as per rules. Six state government ministers of Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh had approached the apex court on 28 August seeking review of its 17 August order. These ministers belong to non-BJP ruled states and have filed a review petition in the apex court for a postponement of JEE-NEET exams. In their review petition filed in the SC through advocate Sunil Fernandes, ministers of the six states have termed the order as "cryptic" and "non-speaking". The petition goes on to say that the order does not take into account the complexities involved and the risk conducting an examination of this scale in the middle of a pandemic poses to the health and welfare of students. Chief ministers of the six non-BJP states seeking postponement of NEET, JEE have also cited the lack of facilities such as transport, hotels, and restaurants as factors that could cause discomfort to students appearing for these exams. Opposition parties, including the Congress and Samajwadi Party, have been organizing protests against the Centre's decision to hold the exams on the original dates. Measures such as special trains, concessions in terms of food and lodging have been made in multiple states for NEET and JEE aspirants. The IIT-Delhi has also urged its students and alumni to help aspirants appearing for JEE-Advanced reach exam centres in October. Approximately 9.53 lakh students have registered for JEE (Main) and 15.97 lakh for NEET (Undergraduate) as per data released by the NTA. While JEE Mains will be conducted at over 660 exam centres across India, a total of 3,843 centres have been set up for NEET this year.