During the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking relaxation of the 75% higher secondary examination score requirement for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), the Bombay High Court ordered the National Testing Agency (NTA) to provide an explanation of how the percentile system is used to calculate admission criteria for the IITs.
In response to applications challenging the policy of using the top 20%ile as a criterion for admission to the IIT, the Court heard the explanation of the percentile system from the NTA. However, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne discovered flaws in the system and ordered the NTA to submit an affidavit explaining how the percentile system works.
“There are 30 boards in the country. Not everyone releases the percentile list. In the 2019 list, for open category, the cut off was 418 in Maharashtra, it was 365 in Goa. The Goa candidate will be benefitting over a Maharashtra candidate,” the Court asserted.
In addition to its questioning of the percentile system, the Court also raised concerns regarding the qualification criterion of 75% in the board exam, which is still prescribed despite the existence of a qualifying examination.
During the hearing, Advocate Rui Rodrigues, who represented the NTA, stated that the criteria had not been recently added.
“Earlier it was 50%, why is it 75% now? Please take instructions on when this new cut off was imposed. File your affidavit. We will place this after a week”, the Court held.
The PIL stated that the 75% eligibility criterion was not applicable until last year. It was submitted that due to the sudden change in eligibility, lakhs of students may be affected.
“The eligibility of 75% in Higher Secondary Class Board Examinations will affect lakhs of students who can score very high in the Mains examination but may not have 75% minimum marks in their board examinations,” the Plea stated.
In January, the Court denied a request for a stay on the Mains exam.
