Ministers from 6 Opposition-ruled States move SC seeking review of decision to allow NEET, JEE

Ministers from 6 Opposition-ruled States have moved the Apex Court seeking a review of its Aug 17 order, in which the Central Gov was permitted to conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) & Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) in Sept 2020.

The plea has been moved by Ministers from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab & Maharashtra through Advocate Sunil Fernandes.

While the main petitioner is West Bengal Labour Minister Moloy Ghatak, other petitioners include Jharkhand Finance Minister Dr Rameshwar Oraon, Rajasthan Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma, Chhattisgarh Planning Minister Amarjeet Bhagat, Punjab Heath Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu & Maharashtra Higher & Technical Education Minister Uday Ravindra Samant.

Several parties had opposed holding the NEET and JEE exams amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic & consulted on approaching the Supreme Court against its verdict. Notably, several protests were also held against conducting the exams.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had earlier this week said that opposition ruled states such as Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Jharkhand should collectively approach the SC for deferring NEET, JEE Main exams to be held next month.

On Aug 17, the Apex Court dismissed a plea seeking the postponement of the NEET and JEE exam scheduled to be held in Sept 2020 observing that the career of students cannot be put under jeopardy for long.

The National Testing Agency, during the hearing, had submitted that all safeguards will be taken while holding the exam.

The petition, which was filed by eleven students from 11 states, had contended that the decision to hold the JEE and NEET UG-2020 exams in Sept across India was arbitrary, whimsical & violative of the fundamental right to life of lakhs of affected students. 

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