A candidate who applies for JEE (Mains) under the General category cannot subsequently change their category to GEN-EWS for JEE (Advanced), as such a change is not permissible under the admission guidelines.

ORDER

(1) The draft amendment is allowed.

(2) The petitioner herein has filed this petition praying for the following reliefs:-

“7.(A) This Hon’ble Court may Allow and admit this petition.

(B) Your Lordship may be pleased to issue writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction by directing respondents to accept the Petitioner’s EWS Certificate dated 06.04.2026 and his ‘Declaration in Lieu of GEN-EWS Certificate’ by any suitable mode including email to orgjee@iitr.ac.in, within such time as this Court may prescribe;

(C) Pending admission, hearing and admission and final disposal of the above Writ Petition, the Petitioner most respectfully prays that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to pass the following ad-interim order:

(i) Your Lordship may be pleased to direct Respondent No. 2 (IIT Roorke) to provisionally and conditionally register the Petitioner under the GEN-EWS category for JEE (Advanced) 2026, subject to final verification of his EWS Certificate dated 06.04.2026;

(ii) Your Lordship may be pleased to Restrain Respondent No. 1 to 3 from finalizing, publishing, or acting upon the JEE (Advanced) 2026 GEN-EWS category rank list, result, and seat allotment/counselling process without treating and considering the Petitioner as a GEN-EWS category candidate.

(D) Your Lordship may be pleased to pass such other ad-interim order(s) as this Court may deem fit to protect the Petitioner’s fundamental rights pending disposal of this petition.”

(3) It is the case of the petitioner that he had filed an application concerning the JEE (Mains) examination in the General Category. The petitioner cleared it with 99.5987264 NTA Score. Thereafter, considering the brochure for JEE (Advanced) 2026, more particularly, paragraph 15 therein which provided for admissions under the GEN-EWS category, which inter alia stipulates that the GEN-EWS certificate should have been issued on or after 1st April, 2026, in consonance with the latest guidelines of the Government of India, he preferred an application for procuring an EWS Certificate.

(4) Apparently, the petition does not spell out as to when the application for seeking the GEN-EWS certificate was applied for. However, the statement of the learned advocate for the Petitioner, Mr. Mahesh Bhavsar, before this Court was that the said application was made in the month of April itself. In any case, the said certificate, granting a status of GEN-EWS Certificate came to be issued to the petitioner on 06.04.2026. Thereafter, the applicant attempted to fill the form pertaining to JEE (Advanced) on 23.04.2026, wherein, he has tried to upload the certificate/ Declaration in Lieu of GEN-EWS Certificate in the application. However, it appears that the form was automatically reflecting his category as “General” from the data pertaining to JEE (Mains).

(5) It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner, in obtaining the EWS certificate itself, indicated that he is from a financially weaker background and that, therefore, the denial of permission to the petitioner to change his category from GEN-EWS would severely prejudice the petitioner.

(6) It was also submitted by the learned advocate for the petitioner that the petitioner does not have the means to pursue the course, even if he were to secure admission and can only do so, by availing scholarships, provided his category is changed from General to GEN-EWS. It was submitted that the very act of the petitioner in making an application under the category GEN-EWS would indicate that, as such,