The Delhi High Court has allowed an IIT aspirant to appear for the JEE (Advanced) exams 2019 though he passed Class 12 in 2017 with Biology as subject and appeared in Mathematics this year.

Petitioner Keshav Bansal had cleared the All India Senior School Certificate (AISSC) Examination, conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and after clearing the All India Medical Entrance Examinations for admission to medical colleges, and joined the Maulana Azad Medical College on 1st July, 2017. But in May, 2018, he withdrew from the college, as he realised that his true calling was engineering, and not medicine. As is the case with many aspiring engineers, Bansal had set his eyes on joining one of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The Admission to the IITs is a two-step process. The candidates are required to undertake, first, the Joint Engineering Examination (JEE) (Main). This examination, which is conducted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), covers admission not only to the IITs, but also to various other engineering institutions, such as the NITs and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions. The JEE (Main) examination, which was earlier being conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), is now being conducted by the National Testing Agency (hereinafter, as “the NTA”).

The petitioner, having passed his XII Class examination, to the extent it rendered him eligible for appearing for the JEE (Main) – 2019 Examination in all papers, except Mathematics, in 2017, and having appeared in his Mathematics examination in 2019, regarded himself as eligible to appear in the JEE (Main) – 2019 Examination. He, therefore, applied for, and appeared, in the JEE (Main) – January 2019 Examination, in which, as per the results, which were announced on 19th January, 2019, the petitioner secured 99 percentile in his very first attempt. The “admission into various undergraduate programs across IITs is through the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced)”, the Information Brochure relating to the JEE (Advanced)-2019 Examination declares that “all Indian Nationals who satisfy the eligibility criteria … can appear in JEE (Advanced)”

Bansal however had a bone to pick with Criterion 4 in Clause 11 of the Information Bulletin governing the JEE (Advanced) – 2019 Examination which was as under:

Criterion 4 – “Appearance in Class XII or equivalent examination: A candidate should have appeared for the Class XII (or equivalent) examination for the first time in either 2018 or 2019. However, if the examination Board of Class XII (or equivalent) declares the results for the academic year 2016-17 after June 2017, then the candidates of that board who appeared for their class XII exam in 2017-are also eligible to appear in JEE (Advanced) 2019, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria. In case, the examination Board of Class XII (or equivalent) declared the results for the academic year 2016-17 before June 2017 but the result of a particular candidate was withheld, then the candidate will not be eligible to appear in JEE (Advanced) 2019.”

The petitioner’s argument was that the eligibility criteria for JEE (Advanced) was contrary to JEE (Main) examination. It was admitted even by Respondent No. 3 (IIT, Roorkee), that the petitioner was eligible to appear in the JEE (Main) – 2019 Examination, and that he did figure among the top 2,45,000 candidates who attempted Paper-1 thereof, but due to criterion 4 of clause 11 of the information bulletin he cannot appear in JEE (Advanced) – 2019.

In his order Justice Hari Shankar of the Delhi High Court said: “I am of the view that, in fact, no occasion arises, at all, for this Court to enter into the issue of the validity, or otherwise, of the impugned Criterion 4 in Clause 11 of the Information Bulletin governing the JEE (Advanced) – 2019 Examination, as, in my opinion, the said Criterion, properly read, would not, in any manner, disentitle the petitioner from appearing in the JEE (Advanced) – 2019 Examination. It is not necessary, therefore, to examine whether the said Criterion is, or is not, legally sustainable.”

—India Legal Bureau