Rules to evaluate JEE Advanced papers not changed, says IIT Kanpur

e court of Justice R M Chhaya, asked the organising chairman to file the reply on affidavit by June 26

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday directed IIT-Kanpur to file on affidavit its reply in which it denied changing the rules for the evaluation of JEE (Advanced) papers, a day after the exam was held on May 20.

The exam's organising chairman today told the high court, in response to a petition, that rules to evaluate the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced papers have not been changed.

The court of Justice R M Chhaya, however, asked the organising chairman to file the reply on affidavit by June 26.

Three candidates, Anurag Jha, Chandni Tomar and Rajesh Rai, had filed a petition through their lawyer Rahul Sharma, challenging the "arbitrary changes" brought about in the marking scheme for evaluation of answers a day after the examination.

They claimed that the records show that there were changes in the process after the exam was held on May 20.

The petition said the respondent issued "clarifications regarding answers of numerical-answer-type questions" (which is section II of each of two papers) on May 21.

Through the clarification, the instruction was "substantially altered" compared to the instructions provided to the candidates 20 minutes before the examination, the petition said.

Subsequently, the answer key uploaded by IIT-Kanpur on May 29 "was in accordance with the amended instructions for evaluating the answers", it said.

The petition held that the clarification issued a day after the examination is "arbitrary and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution," and sought from the high court to quash and set aside clarifications and the answer key.

It also sought the court's direction to declare the results of the JEE (Advanced) 2018 "as per the evaluation done in consonance of the instructions contained in the question papers".

In its earlier order, the vacation bench of the high court had said that the JEE results will be a "subject to further orders that may be passed on the next date," even though it refused to stay the results announced on June 10, saying doing so will have "all-India ramifications".

Admission to IITs is conducted in two stages. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) first conducts Joint Entrance Examination (Mains). Thereafter, candidates who secure all-India rank up to 2,24,000 appear for JEE (Advanced), which is conducted by one of the IITs.

This year, IIT-Kanpur conducted the JEE (Advanced) on May 20.

The mains exam, which comprises two papers, is held in a single day. Each paper is of 180 marks and contains 60 marks for physics, chemistry and mathematics each.

Seat allocation for successful candidates will be declared on June 19.