Supreme Court Dismisses Plea By Orissa Private Engineering Colleges Association To Conduct 'O-JEE – 2021'

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a writ petition by the Orissa Private Engineering Colleges Association for a direction to the authorities of state government of Odisha, Policy Planning Body and Odisha Joint Entrance Examination Committee to hold 2nd Special 'O-JEE – 2021' in respect of admission into B-Tech (Engineering) and Lateral Entry (L.E) courses.The bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and A. S. Bopanna noted that by an order of 25 October 2021 of a bench headed by Justice L. Nageswara Rao, the Supreme Court granted extension of time for completion of admissions to the engineering degree courses until 30th November 2021. Further, on 16 December 2021, a three-judge bench of the court has granted an extension of time on an application filed by the Orissa Private Engineering Colleges Association until 31 December 2021."The prayer in these proceedings under article 32 is for a direction to the state and examining authority to conduct a second JEE for BTech admissions for 2021-2022. Mr Siddharth Dave, senior advocate for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioners were pursuing the remedies for extension and had in fact moved the High Court and an extension has also been granted by a three-judge bench in the terms noted above. Hence, it has been submitted that it would be appropriate to direct that a further JEE be conducted so that a large number of seats which are vacant can be filled up. The Advocate for the state of Orissa submits that the time having been extended on 16 December 2021 to 31 December 2021, it is physically impossible for the state and the examining authority to conduct a JEE within the fortnight which is left until the extended deadline expires. It has been submitted that at the least, a period of one month would be required for ensuring online registrations, conducting a computer test and for the declaration of results. Since the extended cut-off would expire on 31 December 2021 and the state having expressed a genuine and reasonable difficulty that it would be impossible to conclude the process before 31 December 2021, we are not inclined to accede to the prayer for directing the state to hold another round of examinations in the form of JEE. It is also being submitted before this court that as a matter of fact as many as four JEEs have already been held as a result of the pandemic. In the circumstances, and for the reasons indicated above, we are not inclined to entertain the petition", the bench recorded in its order.In the petition, it was urged that there are thousands of seats vacant in State of Odisha due to students being unable to appear in the qualifying examination O-JEE. It was stated that the O-JEE conducted its Entrance Examination i.e. special O-JEE in the month of August 2021 wherein there were shut down / lock down prohibitions imposed by the State Government and O-JEE had started its online counseling fixing the date 10.11.2021 for last date of registration and choice locking of the candidates from the JEE (Main) 2021 central pools. Consequent to such compelling situations faced by the candidates, only 6954 students had appeared in Special O-JEE Test 2021 for B-Tech Course, it was submitted."The Petitioner Association had approached the Hon'ble High Court of Odisha at Cuttack through WP (C) No. 35837 of 2021 seeking conduct of a second JEE examination for the unfilled seats. It is pertinent to state both the AICTE as well as the O-JEE had stated before the Hon'ble High Court that they had no objection for the conduct of a 2nd O-JEE, however it was pointed out that the last date for admissions was 30.11.2021. Further, the State Govt., in exercise of its power conferred under Section 3(2) of the Odisha Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Amendment Act, 2016, inter alia, has also permitted the admissions at the institute level against vacant seats to be completed on or before 15.12.2021. However, the Hon'ble High Court stated that the time schedule for making admissions having been fixed by this Hon'ble Court for 30.11.2021, the said date was sacrosanct and would override the extension granted by the State Govt. Accordingly, the Petitioner Association sought to withdraw the Writ Petition to approach this Hon'ble Court for seeking extension in time in making admissions to the vacant seats under the State quota beyond the stipulated time in the revised schedule i.e. 30.11.2021. Whereas, the total seats available in the B-Tech institutions across the State are more than 32,000 and more than 60% of seats in B-Tech Engineering Course will remain vacant in the member – institutions of the Petitioner Association. Apart from the same, a substantial number of candidates in the State of Odisha had requisite qualifications to write the examination but failed to appear in the examinations due to the COVID – 19 pandemic. The said candidates would lose an academic year while thousands of seats go abegging," the petition...

Supreme Court Dismisses Plea By Orissa Private Engineering Colleges Association To Conduct 'O-JEE – 2021'

Mehal Jain

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