JEE Advanced: SC awards 3 attempts to students who dropped out from November 5-18

Last update:January 10, 2025, 1:01 pm EST

JEE Advanced Attempt Limit Case: Students who dropped out of colleges between November 5 and November 18 will be allowed to appear for the JEE Advanced exam thrice.

The Supreme Court grants relief to students who withdrew from their studies between November 5 and 18 by granting them 3 tries.

The Supreme Court has directed that students who dropped out of studies between November 5 and November 18 can appear for the JEE Advanced exam thrice, as per the provisional notification to the Joint Admission Committee. This decision was made after the abrupt withdrawal of the extended qualifying period that initially allowed students from the classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025 to take the exam.

During the hearing, advocate Parameshwar informed the court about the changes in the eligibility criteria for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced conducted by the Joint Admission Board (JAB). On November 5, JAB announced that students graduating in 2023, 2024, and 2025 would be able to take the exam. However, just 13 days later, eligibility was limited to students graduating in 2024 and 2025 only.

Advocate Parameshwar said the withdrawal of the extended eligibility was arbitrary: “I can give you a list of people who have actually dropped out of colleges and engineering colleges thinking that they will appear in the exams. Having promised that students in 2023, 2024 and 2025 will take the exams, let us allow them.”

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, representing JAB, defended the decision to limit the number of trials to two. He argued that allowing three attempts could create a distraction for students who enroll in general engineering colleges but continue with their IIT preparations.

He explained that the revised policy was aimed at reducing academic disruption by encouraging students to focus on their current courses after two failed attempts in JEE Advanced.

The Tribunal took note of the observations, highlighting that the original JAB notification dated November 5, 2024 had allowed students who had appeared for class 12 in the years 2023, 2024 and 2025 to appear for the examination. However, this eligibility was suddenly reduced to two batches. The court found that on the basis of this promise, some students withdrew from the university to appear for the IIT examinations and the sudden change thwarted their plans.

The court ordered, “In the press release dated November 5, 2024, a clear promise was made to the students that those who had appeared for the Class 12 examination in 2023, 2024 and 2025 would be eligible to appear for the JEE (Advanced) examination. If students performing the above-mentioned national team resigned from classes with the knowledge that they would be eligible to appear in JEE, the withdrawal of the pledge on November 18, 2024 cannot be to their detriment. Under these special facts and circumstances, irrespective of the content of the decision taken by the JAB, those students who withdrew from classes and discontinued their studies between November 5, 2024 and November 18, 2024, will be allowed to register for JEE (Advanced ). Pursuant to the above decision, the complaint was dismissed.

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Interestingly, three trials will be given only to those students who have approached the Supreme Court. In November last year, the Board increased the JEE Advanced attempt limit to three. However, within a few weeks the decision was reversed and the two-try policy was reinstated.