Eligibility criteria for admission processes cannot be altered post-examination, and higher minimum standards may be set by relevant authorities.

ORDER :

(Manish Pitale, J.)

1. The petitioner is aggrieved by the action of respondent No. 3 - Joint Seat Allocation Authority (hereinafter referred to as ‘JoSAA’) dated 23.06.2025, whereby the petitioner has been held ineligible for admission to the Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) Course, on the ground of not having secured minimum 75% (Seventy Five Percent) aggregate marks in class XII and also having failed to come within the top Twenty percentile of the board examination. The principal contention of the petitioner is that the aforesaid eligibility criterion was added subsequent to the process of examination and admission having commenced and as per settled law, the rules of the game could not have been changed midway through the game. According to the petitioner, she satisfies the eligibility criterion specified in the information bulletin issued by respondent No. 2 - National Testing Agency (hereinafter referred to as ‘NTA’) for entrance examination leading to admission to various institutions under the aegis of respondent No. 3 – JoSAA.

2. The chronology of events in brief leading filing of the present petition is that the petitioner appeared for the Higher Secondary Certificate Examination i.e. Class – XII examination conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Examination in February – 2025. She secured 453 marks out of 600 marks. She also appeared for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) conducted by respondent No. 2 – NTA in January - 2025 and April – 2025. The students appearing for such examinations are permitted to choose the score of either of the attempts in the examination.

3. On the basis of the score of the petitioner in the JEE (Main) 2025 examination, she secured All India Rank 292 in paper 2A and All India Rank 565 in paper 2B in the OBC-NCL category. In May/June – 2025, respondent No. 3 – JoSAA released its business rules for seat allocation and admission to various academic programs, including admissions to various institutions for the B.Arch. Course. The petitioner participated in the counseling rounds conducted by respondent No. 3 – JoSAA .

4. In the first round itself, as per the choice given by the petitioner, she was allotted institution of her choice i.e. School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Bhopal for academic program of B. Arch. (5 year course). This initial seat allotment was intimated on 14.06.2025 and the petitioner was asked to submit necessary documents and to pay the acceptance fees.

5. Subsequently, on 23.06.2025, respondent No. 3 – JoSAA issued the impugned communication with the remark :-

‘NOT ELIGIBLE as the candidate has neither secured a minimum of SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT aggregate marks in Class XII nor falls within the top TWENTY percentile of her respective Board.’

6. The petitioner was aggrieved by the said communication for the reason that according to her the information bulletin issued by respondent No. 2 – NTA on the basis of which the JEE examination was conducted, did not prescribe such an eligibility criterion and the business rules of respondent No. 3 – JoSAA issued subsequently in May/June – 2025, for the first time, introduced the aforesaid criterion. It was further claimed that, without prejudice to the aforesaid stand of the petitioner, she has secured more than 75% mar