Supreme Court Stays IIT Counselling, Admissions Over JEE Bonus Marks Controversy

The Supreme Court today (7 July) stayed counselling for and admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), among others, over awarding of bonus marks to candidates who appeared for the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) this year.

According to the Hindustan Times, the apex court’s order came in response to a petition filed by two students who sought the court’s direction to IIT Madras for revision of the list of selected candidates without offering them bonus marks. Petitioners claimed that their ranking in the all-India merit list was affected due to it.

The students were awarded bonus marks as the answer key to seven of the questions went missing. The marks were awarded whether or not a student attempted to answer those questions, reported News18.

The petitioners argued that bonus marks should be given only to those students who had attempted the seven questions on the test.