Amid ongoing protests to postpone competitive cum entrance exams for 2020 in the wake of coronavirus, six states ruled by Opposition have now moved the Supreme Court on Friday, filed a petition against the conduct of these exams.
These states include Cabinet ministers of Punjab, Balbir Singh Sidhu (Health Minister); West Bengal, Maloy Ghatak (Law Minister) Maharashtra, Uday R Samant (Education Minister); Rajasthan, Dr. Raghu Sharma (Health Minister); Chattisgarh, Amarjeet Bhagat (Food Minister) and Jharkhand, Rameshwar Oraon (Finance Minister).
These ministers, however, have sought from the apex court to review its order of August 17, which allowed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct NEET and JEE exams from September 1 to 13. SC in its order stated, "Life has to go on despite Covid".
Going by the ministers' version, the conduct of NEET and JEE exams would put students' life in danger amid the alarming increase in the number of coronavirus cases across the nation.
In the review petition, the ministers told the SC that NEET needs to be canceled to secure safety, security, and right to life of students who want to appear for NEET/JEE examinations.
It would be difficult to arrange massive logistics, including transport and lodging, for the lakhs of aspirants appearing in the examinations amid the pandemic.