Six ministers of opposition-ruled states moved the Supreme Court on Friday 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.
In its statement on Tuesday, the NTA said it has ensured that more than 99 per cent of the candidates get their first choice of city with regard to exem centres. The number of examination centres has also been increased to 660 from 570 for JEE and 3,843 from 2,546 for NEET, it added. For the year 2020-21, as many as 8.58 lakh candidates have registered for JEE (Main) and 15.97 lakh for NEET (UG).
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.
On Thursday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren urged Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to consider postponing NEET and JEE examinations in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter to Pokhriyal, the chief minister said there is a risk of spread of infection and with public transport not operating in the state, many candidates would face difficulties in reaching examination centres.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday targeted the BJP over the holding of the JEE and NEET exams amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the party’s attitude towards students is “devoid of humanity”.
This comes a day after Samajwadi Party (SP) workers staged a protest outside the Raj Bhawan here over the issue.
(With PTI Inputs)
Six Opposition-ruled States Move SC Seeking Postponement Of NEET, JEE added by Muslim Kashmir on
View all posts by Muslim Kashmir →