HC rejects PIL demanding deferment of JEE

AHMEDABAD: The engineering degree aspirants will have to take the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) this time as Gujarat high court on Tuesday rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) which had sought deferment of its introduction from this year.

The PIL had sought directions to the state government that it should defer its decision of offering the mandatory JEE to 2014, and it should not start from this academic year.

The government had earlier declared that all those who clear the board examination in science stream and aspire to take admission in engineering courses must take JEE, which is a common entrance test for majority of engineering institutes of prime importance.

An association - Vidhyarthi Hit Rakshak Samiti - had moved the court saying that the government decision could harm the future of nearly 1.7 lakh students, who may pass the board examination in 2013.

The petitioner also claimed that the students may not find enough time to prepare for JEE, for the study material is not available in Gujarati yet. Besides, there is a difference in the syllabuses offered for JEE and for Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GUJCET), which is mandatory for the students to take after clearing the board exams, the petitioner submitted.

In a rebuttal, the government said that there is not much difference in the syllabuses and the decision to introduce JEE has been taken with a view to uplifting the standard of education to what is required for the premier technical institutes.

The petitioner's lawyer submitted during the hearing that the state government has taken dual stand over the issue of entrance examinations, as in a similar litigation pending before the Supreme Court (SC) questioning mandatory National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for admission in UG medical courses, the government opposes introduction of the test at this juncture.

After conclusion of hearing, the division bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala upheld the state government's contention. It observed that the students should not be having problems because the syllabus for both the tests is the same.

The judges also criticized the request for deferment saying that advertisements in this regard were published in August last year. Besides, when there is no level field, how the ratio of 80:20 for intake of admission of students from Gujarat and outside can be maintained. The court further observed that if students' demands are accepted, there would be chaos at the time of admission. The HC also maintained that court should not interfere in educational policy.
Times of India