On Friday, a petition was filed against the grant of extra marks by IIT Madras to JEE Advanced 2017 entrants. The petition demands cancellation of the announced rank list and conducting of a fresh counselling.The petition was submitted to Supreme Court, which now seeks Center’s and IIT Madras, an explanation for awarding grace marks to even those candidates who did attempt the question.
JEE Advanced 2017 was held on May 21, 2017. The conducting body awarded 18 extra marks to the candidates after realizing the printing errors in the Hindi Language Section of the paper. IIT-M granted marks for two question in Paper 1 and three questions in Paper 2. In Paper 1, one question was from the Chemistry section whereas the other one was from the Mathematics sections. Whereas, from Paper 2, a question was from Physics sections and the remaining two questions from Mathematics section.
One might ask what is such a big deal about this? Well, there is a lot of catch. As per TOI reports, in 2016 and 2015 the IITs gave 1 bonus marks for each incorrect answer. Ditching the mechanism used so far, this year the marks have been granted according to the marking scheme of the respective Paper. In Paper 2, the marks per question were 4 and the negative marking of 1 mark is implemented. However, in Paper 1, the marking scheme varies as it contained questions with multiple correct choices. So, the marks per question in Paper 1 of the exam was 3 and were only allocated if all the correct answer choices opted. If the candidate chooses only a few correct choice answer option, then only 1 mark was to be allocated. Negative marking in this Paper was also of 2 marks.
The issue basically arises because all the candidates have been allocated extra marks, which are so high. Two qualifiers of JEE Advanced filed the petition, stating that their ranking in the merit list has been affected adversely. They further claim that due to this, they will not receive admission in prioritized course and colleges. Apart from this, the methodology for preparation of all-India rank list has also been sought with the marks awarded to candidates who had attempted the rights answers for these questions.
A vacation bench of Justice, headed by Abhay Manohar Sapre and Sanjay Kishan Kaul has demanded Centre and IIT-M clarification on the matter. The SC has given one week’s time to both the authority for submitting the response. The next hearing on the matter is due on July 07, 2017. Further, SC has also demanded interim stay on the merit and the counselling procedure.
SC has said that if only a certain number of students submitted objections again the discrepancy in the few questions. Then how can IIT Madras grant 18 marks to all the appearing candidates, irrespective of they have appeared for the exam or not? Even the petition also stated, “clearly arbitrary and violative of the rights of the candidates who successfully solved the said questions,”
Top 2.2 lakh JEE Main qualifiers were allowed to appear for JEE Advanced and out of these only 1.71 lakh candidates registered for the exam. The counselling for JEE Advanced 2017 has started and 11,000 candidates have got admission in seats offered by 23 IITs. Since the counselling for Advanced paper is held along JEE Main by JoSAA, the total number of candidates who got admission after the first allotment is 36,114 in 97 institutes.
The round 2 of JoSAA counselling will begin on July 04, 2017. Until July 07, 2017, the SC will not order hold the ongoing counselling procedure. However, only the time will tell where the case will take the turn. Do you think the bonus marks has affected the merit of the students? Is granting such high grace marks unfair? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below.
