Opposition parties file 4-part reconsideration petition in SC to defer JEE, NEET

The reconsideration petition which has been filed in Supreme Court seeking deferment of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) exams, has been divided into four parts, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said on Friday.

Addressing a Joint press conference here with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, TMC leader Derek O'Brien and Maharashtra Minister Uday Samant, Singhvi said, "We have divided the reconsideration petition into four parts: - Safety and Health, Reasonableness, Those balanced ways in which you can provide both the objectives of health as well as education and Policy rules on which you will be able to do it."

He said that figures of student who will be taking the exams can increase this to 25 lakh and it is unfortunate that COVID-19 data is going simultaneously with 60,000 deaths.

"If I talk about the figures which can increase this year, it is of 25 lakh people. In which there are 16 lakh students for NEET and 9 lakh for JEE. about 25 lakh students. It is unfortunate that the corona data is also going on simultaneously with 33 lakh cases and 60,000 deaths," he said.

Emphasising over the health of the students in the time of coronavirus, Singhvi said there are only 660 institutes for JEE. 1400 or 1500 people per centre has been divided for about nine lakh people. A little better for NEET which has around 450 people per center.

"On the one hand you talk of social distance and on the other side such density where there will be 1500 and 450 students at one center, is there no contradiction? Has anyone considered this?" Singhvi further asked.

Earlier in the day, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said that if the government takes any decision regarding the future of students, it should take it with their concurrence.

On Thursday, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had said that the safety and future of the students were the topmost priority with regard to holding the Joint Entrance Exams (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.He had added that several steps including the increase in the number of exam centres had been taken.The National Testing Agency (NTA) is scheduled to conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) 2020 [NEET] on September 13 and Joint Entrance Examination Main [JEE] on September 1-6.

( With inputs from ANI )