By Anusha Lal, August, 2020
A Supreme Court lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava requests Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Education Minister Dr R.P. Nishank to postpone the JEE and NEET 2020 examinations. In the written plea to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) submitted on August 19, the advocate demands postponement of these examinations seeing the COVID-19 situation in the country. The exams are scheduled to be held in September. The Supreme Court rejected the plea made earlier (on August 17) to defer the exam dates and ordered the examination to be held in September, as per the schedule.
Supreme Court advocate Srivastava has penned down various reasons to not conduct NEET, JEE exams in the letter written to the PMO. He wrote, “I am most respectfully requesting your good self to kindly postpone the NEET, JEE exams, scheduled to be conducted in the month of September 2020. The same may be conducted after a few months from now when the normalcy will be restored post COVID19 crisis.” The plea seeking exam deferment has been made to get relief for candidates amid COVID-19 pandemic upsurge.
As per Srivastava’s plea to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the exams must not be held in September as the pandemic has not yet been in control. Conducting exams in such a situation might compromise the health of students and staffs. In his recent Twitter post, he even shared the letter he wrote to the Prime Minister. He told students to not stress about the exams. The advocate is trying his level best to postpone the exam for a few months from now. Until there is further clarity, he asks students to keep studying.
Alakh Alok Srivastava also wrote to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) requesting to defer the exam dates until the situation becomes favourable. He is also planning to approach the Supreme Court again this week. However, he has advised students to not stop the preparation for exams and concentrate on the studies.
The JEE Main 2020 examination is scheduled between September 1 and 6. The NEET is planned to be held on September 13 across 161 exam centres in India. Lakhs of students from all over the country apply for these competitive exams. In the time of such an unprecedented crisis, prioritizing the health of these students is important and the exams must be postponed keeping the health risks in mind.
