NEW DELHI: Six ministers of non-BJP ruled states moved the Supreme Court on Friday (August 28, 2020) seeking review of its order permitting the Centre to conduct NEET and JEE entrance exams this year amid the persisting COVID-19 pandemic.
The review plea has been filed by ministers from West Bengal (Moloy Ghatak), Jharkhand (Rameshwar Oraon), Rajasthan (Raghu Sharma), Chhattisgarh (Amarjeet Bhagat), Punjab (B S Sidhu) and Maharashtra (Uday Ravindra Sawant). The plea has been filed through advocate Sunil Fernandes.
On Aug 17, the top court had refused to interfere with the conduct of medical and engineering entrance exams - NEET and JEE - scheduled to take place in September saying that life must go on and students can't lose a precious year due to the pandemic.
The apex court had dismissed a plea by one Sayantan Biswas seeking direction to National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts both the NEET and JEE exams, to postpone them and said that there was “absolutely" no merit in the plea.
Meanwhile, Congress party workers today held protests outside Shastri Bhawan, demanding the Centre to postpone JEE and NEET exams in September. Delhi Congress leaders and workers, including its president Anil Kumar, were detained by police on Friday during a protest against the holding of the JEE and NEET exams amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several Congressmen were detained by the police near the Shastri Bhawan and taken to the Mandir Marg police station, Kumar said.
"The Centre and its education ministry are endangering the lives of 25 lakh students by being adamant on holding the JEE and NEET when the number of coronavirus cases is going up in the country," he said.
The Delhi Congress chief said despite opposition from many states as well as from students and their parents, the Centre is not reconsidering its decision, which is unfortunate.
"We are only requesting the Modi government and its education ministry to postpone the two exams for some days till the COVID-19 situation is under control," he said.
While the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is scheduled to be held on September 13, engineering entrance exam JEE-Main has been planned from September 1-6. Around 8.58 lakh candidates have registered for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Main and 15.97 lakh have registered for the NEET.
The exams have been deferred twice in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
