Aspirants who dropped out between Nov 5-18 eligible for JEE-Advanced: SC

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The Supreme Court on Friday allowed petitioners, who dropped out from their courses between November 5 and November 18, 2024, to register for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Advanced.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih passed the order while hearing the pleas against bringing down from three to two, the attempts given to JEE-Advanced aspirants.

The apex court noted the joint admission board (JAB), entrusted to conduct the JEE-Advanced exam, had issued a press release on November 5 last year which said students who appeared for the class 12 examination in academic years 2023, 2024 and 2025 would be eligible to appear for the JEE-Advanced.

The bench further said on November 18, 2024, another press release was issued restricting the eligibility only to two academic years -- 2024 and 2025.   

"If the students, acting on the said representation (of November 5), have dropped from their course with an understanding that they would be entitled to appear for JEE examination, the withdrawal of the promise on November 18, 2024 cannot be permitted to act to their detriment," the bench held.

Without observing on the merits of JAB's decision, the top court said students who dropped out between November 5 and November 18, 2024 would be permitted to register for the test.

The top court was hearing two petitions, including one filed by 22 aspirants, challenging the reduction in the number of attempts available to aspirants for JEE-Advanced from three to two.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the petitioners said on account of the promise made in the November 5 2024 press release, they dropped out of colleges to pursue the test conducted for admission to the prestigious IITs.

Another plea, filed through advocate Sanjeet Kumar Trivedi, said the matter related to the process for admissions into the IITs and the JAB changed the eligibility criteria for students in an "arbitrary" manner.

"The JAB, vide its press release dated November 5, 2024, first fixed the permissible number of attempts for JEE-Advanced at three, only to change it abruptly vide another press release dated November 18, 2024, and thereby reducing the number of attempts to two," the plea filed by an aspirant said.