The legal principle established is that the failure to comply with the prescribed procedures for category selection and the absence of demonstrated bona fides can lead to the denial of requests for category change and inclusion in reserved category lists.

JUDGMENT :

SANJEEV NARULA, J.

C.M.(APPL)……../2022 (for filing additional documents)

1. A copy of an application for filing additional documents has been handed over across the board.

2. Registry is directed to number the application.

3. Considering the grounds stated therein as well as the documents annexed, the same is allowed. Let the additional documents be taken on record.

4. The application stands disposed of.

W.P.(C) 12213/2022 & C.M. APPL. 36615/2022 (for interim stay)

5. The Petitioner – Mr. Monu Khan, an aspirant of B.Tech. course, appeared in the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) 2022 [“JEE (Main)”] under the ‘General/(UR)’ Category. He has not qualified for Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) 2022 [“JEE (Advanced)”] in the said category, but has scored a percentile which is higher than the cut-off for the General Economically Weaker Section category [“Gen-EWS”]. Now, after declaration of JEE (Main) results, and the announcement of Common Rank List [“CRL”], and just before the conduct of JEE (Advanced) which is scheduled on 28th August 2022, he seeks to be included the list of qualified Gen-EWS candidates appearing for the said exam.

6. The scheme of the JEE examinations, is as follows:

i. A candidate is required to register by filling-up an online application form, through which a “system generated application number” is allocated. Once submitted, there is no provision to rectify the application. For applying as an EWS candidate, an aspirant has to either upload an EWS certificate for the relevant year, or file a self-declaration to that effect.

ii. Candidates are allowed two opportunities to write the JEE (Main), which are described as Session 1 and Session 2. However, it is not mandatory to appear in both the sessions. Scores are obtained on a percentile basis, and are not an aggregate or average of the marks obtained. If a candidate appears in both the sessions, the higher score of the two is considered as final for each subject, the total of which forms the “Total NTA Score” of the candidate.

iii. NTA announces the “All India Rank based on Final NTA Score” which is a rank list, and further declares “Cut-off Total NTA Score based on Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech.)” for General as well as Reserved categories. These are used by candidates for – (i) seat allocation to many premier engineering colleges such as NITs, NSIT, DTU [“NIT+ institutions”] through a Joint Seat Allocation Authority [“JoSAA”] which considers the All India Rank; and/or (ii) qualifying to write the JEE (Advanced) for attaining admission into IITs through the cut-off NTA Score for the said exam. (According to a rulebook handed over by the Respondent, titled Business Rules of JoSAA, - “Indian Institutes of Technology [IITs] offer several academic programs for which admission is on the basis of JEE (Advanced) 2022. National Institutes of Technology [NITs], Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur [IIEST], Indian Institutes of Information Technology [IIITs or Triple-I-Ts] and a few other technical Institutes funded fully or partially by Central or a State government [Other-GFTIs] (referred to as NIT+) offer academic programs for which admission is on the basis of JEE (Main) 2022.”)

iv. On 7th/8th August, 2022, NTA declared the Cut-off Total NTA Score based on Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech.). The cut off for the general/unreserved category is 88.4121383 and the cut off for Gen- EWS category is 63.1114141.

7. The case of the Petitioner, in brief, is as follows:

i. Petitioner’s mother is a cancer patient and at the time of filling-up the application [on 2nd March 2022] for JEE (Main), she was undergoing chemotherapy treatment. For this reason, Petitioner got his form filled through a friend, who mistakenly mentioned the category as “General” instead of “EWS”.

ii. On 6th April 2022, NTA published a notification titled ‘Correction in particulars of the Online