SC Vacates Stay, Allows Counseling, Admissions To IITs:- The decision of counseling and admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and other institutions related to JEE (Advanced) entrance examination, has vacated its stay by the Supreme Court.

The apex court bench said that regarding counseling and admission to the IITs, no High Court will entertain any petition on this issue, to avoid any confusion. The bench is headed by Justice Dipak K Mishra.

The court in its order said, “We are inclined to vacate the order passed on July 7 and also convey that we are not inclined to interfere with the counseling and admission process, and high courts should act accordingly and not interfere in the admission process”. The apex court also said that it desires that errors, mistakes in the framing of questions and in printing of question papers should not happen. 

The process in which a candidate, clears the entrance examination, and based on their rank, chooses the best college and stream according to his or her choice is referred as “counseling.”

The Supreme Court had sought the response of the Centre, on June 30. The petition sought a challenge of the grant of seven extra marks to all candidates who appeared in the IIT-Joint Entrance examination (IIT-JEE) for advance course. In the wake of a printing error in a Hindi language paper, the extra marks were granted.

Justices A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar, also comprise the bench. An undertaking should be given, so that such mistakes will not recur, said the bench. And also, make sure that that no situation in which bonus marks have to be awarded arose in future, the bench added.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, representing the IITs, said such a situation will not arise in future.

As there were a huge number of students involved and there was a system of negative marking in the exam, the 2005 judgment in Guru Nanak University case will not apply in the present matter the bench said. To decide that bonus marks should be awarded across the board for the wrong questions, the experts’ body of IITs had met twice, observed the apex court.

From conducting further counseling and admissions on July 7, the Supreme Court had confined the IITs. It said that the court will go by its earlier 2005 judgment and that bonus marks cannot be given to those who have not attempted the wrong questions.

There may be some students who had opted not to answer “the said vague questions fearing negative marking”, and for every unsuccessful question, there was a negative marking, pointed out the AG.

Therefore, across the board, bonus marks were given to the candidates, Venugopal had told the court, adding that otherwise the IITs would have to strike down the marks. Moreover, it was difficult to re-evaluate the answer sheets of over two lakh students who took the examination and awarding of bonus marks across board was the most practical solution, said the AG.

On June 30, a notice was issued to the Ministry of Human Resource Development by the apex court, on a petition seeking quashing of the IIT-JEE 2017 rank list.

The court’s direction was sought to declare that the action of awarding bonus marks to candidates who had appeared in the JEE (Advanced)- 2017 examination was wrong, was filed by an IIT aspirant Aishwarya Agarwal. The court’s decision violated her right, as well as that of other students.

Several other students had approached the apex court seeking quashing of rank list, since then.

Several IIT aspirants after rectifying the scores of JEE (Advanced) in their petitions, had sought a direction for preparation of the all-India rank list, and also award marks for the incorrect questions to the candidates who had attempted the right answers.

SUPRAJA