The Supreme Court today dismissed a review petition filed against the August 17 order of the court allowing the Centre to conduct the NEET-JEE examinations scheduled in September. The review petition was filed by six Cabinet Ministers of opposition-ruled states West Bengal, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Pursuant to the previous order, the National Testing Agency (NTA) had issued notifications regarding the dates of the NEET-JEE exams.
[Breaking] NEET-JEE: SC Dismisses Review Petition Filed By 6 State Ministers Seeking Postponement Of Exams https://t.co/seSJQrmBUd
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) September 4, 2020
The petition had come up for hearing before a Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari. The petition filed through Advocate Sunil Fernandes contended that the order of the Supreme Court failed to ensure the safety, security and the right to life of the candidates appearing for the NEET-JEE examinations.
In the August 17 order, the SC had observed that though there was the pandemic situation, ultimately life has to go on and the career of the students could not be put on peril for a long and full academic year should not be wasted.
The exams are being conducted under strict COVID-19 guidelines with social distancing. Many states, like Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh had declared that they would provide free transportation to students and their guardians to reach exam centres.
