(Image source from: indusscrolls.com)

The Supreme Court quashes the plea seeking postponement of NEET and JEE exams 2020 and asked the NTA to conduct the exams as per the schedule.

In a time when everything has come to a halt in the country, be it businesses or the economy, the Supreme Court does not want the careers of the students to be at stake.

The Supreme Court bench led by Justice Arun Mishra after hearing the plea questioned the petitioner who filed the petition on behalf of 11 students if everything in the country must be stopped till the pandemic fades. He also said that a precious year of the students cannot be wasted by frequent postponements.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) examinations will be conducted on September 13 and September 1 to 6 respectively as per schedule.

Appearing for the National Testing Agency, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said that the exams should be conducted but adequate precautions will be taken in all the examination centres.

The Supreme Court has taken into account the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s submission and the bench said that exams will be conducted with precautions.

A petition was submitted by Advocate Alok Shrivastava on behalf of 11 students from 11 states seeking postponement of examinations till the coronavirus crisis gets over. The students exclaimed in the plea that there are many students who belong to villages where there are no internet facilities or laptops and they have to travel long to give the exams which is not safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

The students also urged the apex court to assign more exam centres in each district so that it would be easy for them to travel.

The NTA has scheduled the examinations of NEET and JEE mains and advanced in the month of September. A notice was issued by the NTA on the same on July 3 announcing the exact dates of the exams.

CLAT exam which is scheduled to be held in August after the postponement is yet again canceled in the wake of coronavirus. If conducted, CLAT would have been the first national exam to be conducted amid the pandemic.

Moreover, the decision of final year exams of Universities’ students scheduled to be held from September has also been challenged in the Supreme Court for which the hearing is going on at the time of writing today.

Several states including Delhi and Maharashtra had canceled the University semester exams for final year students in the wake of coronavirus.

The UGC however, has been maintaining a stance that exams are critical for the final year students.

By Gayatri Yellayi