JEE and NEET 2020 will be held in September, Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking postponement

• The Supreme Court of India dismissed a plea seeking postponement of JEE-NEET 2020.
  
• ‘'Life should move on even in COVID-19 times. Can we just stop the exams? We should move on,” Justice Arun Mishra said.
  
• The petition urged to hold the exams “only after normalcy is restored in the country post-COVID crisis,”

The Supreme Court of India dismissed a plea seeking postponement of Joint Entrance Examination and The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test 2020.


NEET 2020 is scheduled for September 13 while the JEE Mains is to be held between September 1 to September 6. Both of these exams have been postponed a number of times due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.This year, over 25 lakh students have registered and were waiting for the final verdict for the examination.

“Career of students cannot be put under jeopardy for long,” the bench said.

A Bench of Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari heard the plea by 11 students seeking to postpone NEET-JEE examination.

‘'Life should move on even in COVID-19 times. Can we just stop the exams? We should move on. If exams are not held, won't it be a loss to the country? Students will lose the academic year. Are you not demanding that Courts should re-open? Why can't exams be held with precautions? Justice Arun Mishra asks Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava while hearing the plea.

Advocate Srivastava told Supreme Court that lakhs of students are “looking to SC for relief,” He argued that the vaccine might come soon and they’re not seeking an indefinite postponement but a postponement for some time.

“In case of CBSE, ICSE, NIOS also relief was given. AIBE, ICAI exams all have been postponed,” Srivastava told SC.

The petition submitted on August 6 reads, “NTA has indefinitely postponed the National Council of Hotel Management Joint Entrance Examination (NCHM-JEE) 2020, scheduled to be conducted on 22.06.2020 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, now when the COVID-19 crisis has worsened, the NTA is still conducting JEE Main and NEET exams.”

The petition seeking postponement:

• The petition urged to hold the exams “only after normalcy is restored in the country post-COVID crisis.”
• The petitioners are also urging the court to increase the number of exam centres for both NEET and JEE so that there’s at least one centre in one district of each state.
• The petition also sought to provide new opportunities to all the JEE and NEET aspirants who want to submit their application forms and select a new exam center.

Petition against postponement of exams:

• Separately, parents of four children have also moved to the Supreme Court expressing “imminent need” to conduct JEE-NEET exams in September.

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