The ministers had claimed that the higher court order failed to guarantee the students’ “right to life” and ignored the “initial logistical difficulties” they will face when taking exams during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts both exams, will conduct the JEE core exams from September 1-6, while the NEET exams will take place on September 13.
A bench of judges Ashok Bhushan, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari will consider the reason for review in the chambers.
Review matters in the higher court are generally considered “in the chambers” by circulating the petition among all the judges of the court. The judges then decide “in the chambers” whether there is any merit in the petition for review to re-examine the case at the public hearing.
The August 17 supreme court order, which allowed the exams to take place, has turned into a political battle, as ministers from six states, governed by parties like Congress, TMC, JMM, NCP and Shiv Sena, they sought to postpone exams “in a way that achieves the dual goals of ensuring that students’ academic years are not wasted and that their health and safety are not compromised.”
The request for review has been submitted by ministers from West Bengal (Moloy Ghatak), Jharkhand (Rameshwar Oraon), Rajasthan (Raghu Sharma), Chhattisgarh (Amarjeet Bhagat), Punjab (BS Sidhu) and Maharashtra (Uday Ravindra Sawant).
The statement, filed through attorney Sunil Fernandes, said the supreme court order does not meet the safety concerns of students who have to sit for exams.
The high court had refused to interfere with the taking of medical and engineering entrance exams, saying that life must go on and that students cannot lose a precious year due to the pandemic.
On August 17, the high court dismissed a request by one Sayantan Biswas and others seeking instructions from the NTA to postpone them after Attorney General Tushar Mehta assured that all guarantees would be taken.
Qualifying the decision to conduct the examination as irrational, the statement said that the higher court did not realize that the Union government had enough time to establish at least one center for each district for NEET (UG) and JEE (Red ) instead of having multiple centers in one district.
The petition for review said that the mere fact that thousands of students have registered for the exam is not indicative of their consent or their willingness or desire to attend physical exams.
He said the August 17 order is “cryptic, non-verbal” and does not discuss the various aspects and complexities involved in an issue of this magnitude.
The statement said that only two reasons given by the court – life must go on and students must not miss an academic year – do not constitute a full and authorized judicial scrutiny of the matter.
He said that the high court’s observation that “Life must go on” may have very strong philosophical foundations, but cannot substitute for valid legal reasoning and logical analysis of the various aspects involved in taking the NEET UG and JEE exams.
“It is maintained that if the contested order of August 17, 2020 is not reviewed, then serious and irreparable damage and injuries would occur in the student community of our country and not only the health, well-being and safety of the students / candidates submitting NEET / JEE exams would be in jeopardy, but also public health in general would be in grave danger in these times of the Covid-19 pandemic, ”the statement said.
The petition stated that according to the NIA press release, approximately 9.53 lakhs and 15.97 lakhs of students have registered for JEE (Main) and NEET (UG) 2020 respectively.
The petition stated that JEE Mains is scheduled to take place in 660 test centers with 9.53 lakhs of students, approximately 1,443 students per center. Similarly, for NEET UG, 15.97 lakhs of students will appear at 3,843 centers across the country, nearly 415 students per center, he said.
“Such a large movement of people will ipso facto prove to be a serious health hazard and will completely defeat the twin solutions we currently have to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, that is, social distancing and avoiding large gatherings. public. Only in this short field, the contested Order deserves to be withdrawn and the examinations deserve to be postponed, ”the statement said.
The petitioners do not wish to make any value judgments or political criticism of the Union government at those times, but the indisputable facts are that there has been an exponential increase in positive cases of Covid-19, as well as deaths from the virus from April.
“It is quite ironic that in the initial stage, when there were a much smaller number of positive cases of Covid-19, the tests were postponed and now, when the daily spread of the virus is at its peak, it is indicated that the tests are carried out. immediately”. said the plea.
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