Citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a plea has been moved in the Supreme Court to quash and set aside public notices issued by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct the JEE (Main) April 2020 exam between 1-6 September and the NEET on 13 September.
The petitioners’ urged the apex court to give directions to the Centre to conduct JEE and NEET exams only after normalcy is restored in the country, post the COVID-19 crisis.
The plea filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, on behalf of 11 students from 11 states, contended that lakhs of young students are likely to appear in the JEE (Main) April-2020 and NEET UG-2020 exam in the month of September.
"The deadly COVID-19 pandemic has already affected about 20 lakh people in India and the situation is worsening by every passing day. Conducting the examination across India at such perilous time, is nothing else but putting lives of lakhs of young students at utmost risk and danger of disease and death," said the plea.
The petitioners argued that the best recourse at this stage can be to wait for some more time and let the COVID-19 crisis subside.
The plea contended that instead of postponing the exams, the NTA has decided to conduct the JEE (Main) April-2020 exam on (1-6) September, 2020, through online mode and NEET UG-2020 on 13 September through offline mode at 161 centres across India.
This violates the fundamental right to the lives of lakhs of the affected students (including the petitioners), as enshrined within Article 21 of the Constitution and thus the exam schedule is liable to be quashed and set aside on this ground alone, argued the plea.
"It is respectfully submitted that the students who are well equipped with computers and strong internet connection will give online exams while in other hand the students who are unable to give and arrange online exams , will have to come to exam centres by risking their lives. This is a discrimination between students which must be avoided," said the plea.
The plea argued that the concerned authorities have ignored the plight of lakhs of students belonging to Bihar, Assam and northeastern states, witnessing incessant flood and thus conducting online or offline examinations in such places, is not possible.
The petitioners' urged the apex court to increase the number of examination centres of the, after normalisation, to ensure that at least one examination centre is kept in every district of India.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)