SC dismisses review plea by 6 states to postpone JEE, NEET exams

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain the petition filed by ministers of six opposition-ruled states seeking review of the top court’s August 17 order to conduct NEET and JEE (Mains) examinations as scheduled.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, B R Gavai and Krishna Murari considered the review plea in chambers.

The top court had earlier refused to interfere with the conduct of the medical and engineering entrance exams, saying that life must go on and students can’t lose a precious year due to the pandemic.

The fresh plea said that only two reasons given by the court - life must go on and students should not lose an academic year - do not constitute an authoritative and comprehensive judicial scrutiny of the issue.

Six opposition-ruled states -- West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan --approached the top court on August 28 seeking a postponement of the examinations in view of the coronavirus crisis.

JEE, which was scheduled to be held from September 1 to 6, is underway and NEET will be conducted on September 13.