New Delhi: Seven non-BJP state governments are all set to move the Supreme Court against the Centre's decision to hold JEE (main) and NEET examinations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Puducherry arrived at a consensus in an online meeting called by Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee put forward the suggestion that all states should jointly appeal against the Centre’s move at the apex court. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has already initiated steps to file a review petition in the Supreme Court.
The SC had earlier rejected a plea by the students to postpone the exams.
Though they are not part of the opposition's move, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Delhi are also in favour of postponing the exam.
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Main) is scheduled to be held from September 1 to 6, and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on September 13.
The Ministry of Education and the National Testing Agency, that conducts the exams, have decided to go ahead with the tests.
NEET admit cards released
The NEET admit cards were released on Wednesday.
NTA director-general Vineet Joshi has said that candidates from containment zones can use the JEE (main) and NEET admit cards as travel passes. Officials deployed on exam duty can use their appointment letters as passes, he added.
A total of 15.97 lakh students have applied for NEET this year and 9.53 lakh for the JEE (main).
The director-general also said that the number of exam centres have been doubled and social distancing norms would be adhered to. The number of NEET exam centres have been raised to 3843 from 2,546.
The Health Ministry also said that safety guidelines have been issued for conducting the entrance exams.