The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the review petition filed by cabinet ministers of 6 opposition-ruled challenging the August 17 order seeking postponement of JEE, NEET examinations 2020. The petition was jointly filed by 6 cabinet ministers from non-BJP ruled states Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra on August 28.

The review plea was filed by ministers from West Bengal (Moloy Ghatak), Jharkhand (Rameshwar Oraon), Rajasthan (Raghu Sharma), Chhattisgarh (Amarjeet Bhagat), Punjab (BS Sidhu), and Maharashtra (Uday Ravindra Sawant).

On August 17, the Supreme Court had junked the petition seeking deferment of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and gave a green signal for the conduct of examinations scheduled to be held in September 2020.

The top court had refused to interfere with the conduct of the medical and engineering entrance exams, saying that life must go on and students can’t lose a precious year due to the pandemic.

It is to be noted that the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts both the exams, is holding JEE Main Exams from September 1 to September 6, while NEET exams will be held on September 13. Today was Day 4 of the JEE main 2020 exam.

The apex court had on August 17, dismissed a plea by one Sayantan Biswas and 10 other students seeking direction to NTA to postpone them after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured that all safeguards would be taken.

The students had said that in view of the COVID-19 crisis, examinations should be postponed until the situation becomes normal as it can pose a serious health threat to them and their families.

Hearing the plea seeking to postpone the examinations in view of the coronavirus crisis, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had said that deferring the exams will put the career of students in peril.

The petition was submitted by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava on behalf of 11 students belonging to 11 states on August 6.