2023 students sought permission from SC to appear in JEE Advanced, court dismissed the petition

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition for issuing guidelines to permit examinees who cleared the 12th in 2023 to appear for JEE Advanced 2025. A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih held that this is in the domain of policy. The courts should act slowly in interfering in education matters.

The petition was moved by 18 students who appeared for Class 12 in 2023 and were hoping for admission in IITs. The petition stated that they were eligible to write the final attempt in JEE-Main 2025 but were found ineligible to write the May 18 JEE-Advanced.

The petition claimed that the petitioners are aggrieved by the sudden and arbitrary change of policy by the Joint Entrance Board (JAB) regarding the eligibility criteria for JEE-Advanced 2025. The board had initially increased the number of attempts for JEE-Advanced from two to three on November 5, 2024, but repealed it on November 18 last year. JEE-Advanced is conducted by JAB.

On Monday, the bench questioned Solicitor General Tushar Mehta as to why three attempts were allowed in JEE-Mains, while it was limited to two for JEE-Advanced. The bench asked why don't you limit it to two attempts for JEE Mains as well? The bench further said that it would be better if you allow only two attempts for both.