Bombay HC Hearing Second Hearing on JEE Main 2023 Concludes: Exam postponed or not? Check details here

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court is addressing the PIL filed for the postponement of the JEE Main 2023 exam on the grounds that candidates do not have enough time to prepare for the exams, and are colliding with practical exam dates for a few state board exams. Also, the 75% marks criteria are scheduled to be addressed. Students are requesting a postponement of the JEE Main 2023 exams until April 2023. Today, on January 10th, 2023, the bench commenced the second hearing of the matter. With the matter being addressed, below is detailed information on the court happenings for today and what will be done next. 

Also Read: Live Updates of Bombay HC JEE Main Hearing 10 January 2023

Bombay HC JEE Main 2023 Second Hearing: Highlights

• The Hon'ble court has disclosed that 75% of marks criteria shall be taken up at the time of admissions on June 2023, and the discussion should be precise regarding the change of exam dates. 
• The petitioner's lawyer stated that the exam dates and notifications were announced on December 15th, 2022 and the registrations will end on January 12th, 2023 for JEE Main 2023, while responding to the bench.
• The bench enquires the lawyer if the candidates will be able to appear for the JEE Main 2023 exam for the next sessions if they perform unwell in the JEE Main 2023 January session, to which the learned counsel responds that each attempt is equally important for the candidate.
• The bench asks the petitioner's counsel for the exam dates pre-pandemic, upon which the counsel responds that the pandemic has affected the academic year and requests for the JEE Main 2023 exams to be conducted on April and May 2023.
• The board exams are scheduled for February and March 2023 as stated by the counsel and preparation for either JEE Main 2023 or board exams will be difficult and hamper both ways. Addressing to the matter, the bench states that the same issue will again rise due to a lack of time for exam preparations. 
• The Bombay High Court has decided JEE Main 2023 January Session will not be postponed as candidates will get a second chance to improve and for the sake of a few students, lakhs of other students may suffer. Also, the admission criteria of 75% marks will be taken up at the time of admission in June 2023. Further, the Bombay HC also conveys that HC does not have the authority to interfere in Educational matters as per the judgment of the Supreme Court of India. 

What happened in JEE Main 2023 previous hearing?

Here is a brief detail on what has previously happened during the Bombay HC hearing on the matter: 

• The petitioner of the case, Anubha Srivastava Sahai has filed the PIL with the number PIL(ST)/ 33028/ 2022 and the defendant as the National Testing Agency. the matter was first heard on January 4th, 2023. 
• The petitioner has pleaded for the postponement of the exams on two grounds- the duration between the release of notification and exam date is 30-45 days, whereas in the previous years, a 3-4 months gap is usually provided, and the second ground as 75% marks was abolished in the JEE Main 2022 and the same is requested to be followed in JEE Main 2023. 
• The hon'ble bench has requested the petitioner to submit the official JEE Main 2023 brochure before proceeding with the matter and addressing any further.