Supreme Court Allows Relief for Certain JEE (Advanced) Aspirants, Upholds Two-Attempt Limit

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): On Friday, the Supreme Court provided relief to students challenging the reduction of attempts for the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) from three to two. The court ruled that students who dropped out of their courses between November 5, 2024 and November 18, 2024 based on earlier promises would be permitted to take the exam.

However, the court refused to overturn the decision of the Joint Admission Board (JAB) to limit the number of attempts to two.

Senior Advocate K. Parmeshwar representing the petitioners argued that the initial announcement on November 5, 2024 allowing three attempts was abruptly reversed within 13 days which was arbitrary and left students disadvantaged.

Defending the move, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the JAB stated that the policy change was in students’ best interests. He argued that many students enrolled in regular engineering courses were prioritizing JEE preparations over their B.Tech coursework prompting the decision.

A bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Augustine George Masih noted that the press release on November 5, 2024 explicitly assured students who completed Class 12 in 2023, 2024 and 2025 eligibility for JEE (Advanced). Students who withdrew from their courses based on this assurance should not suffer due to the subsequent policy change on November 18, 2024.

The court clarified that the decision was specific to the unique circumstances of this case and refrained from challenging the JAB's authority to restrict attempts to two years. The court emphasized that the policy decision itself was not flawed but noted the need to address the impact on students who acted on the initial representation.

The ruling came in response to a plea by aspirants affected by the abrupt change in the attempt limit for the prestigious engineering entrance exam.