According to sources, the top 20% of students from each education board will now be eligible to seek admission to IITs and NITs and take the JEE Advanced even if they did not score 75% in class 12.

The decision comes amid ongoing calls to relax the eligibility criteria for JEE (Advanced), which require at least 75% in aggregate in the class 12 examinations administered by the respective education boards.

According to the National Testing Agency, "as per the Information Bulletin of Joint Entrance Examination (Main)-2023, candidates who qualify for admission to NITs/IITs and CFTIs, as well as admissions based on JEE (Main) rank, should have secured at least 75% marks in the Class 12 examination conducted by the respective Boards" (NTA).

The National Testing Agency has received numerous representations from stakeholders requesting that the 75% mark in the Class 12 examination be changed.

In light of the foregoing, and in the best interests of students, it has been decided that the eligibility conditions for admission to NITS, HIITS, and CFTI participating through the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSA) will be as follows:

Candidates who qualify for admission to the NITs, IIITs, and other CFTIs based on JEE (Main) ranks must have obtained at least 75% marks in their Class 12 examinations or be in the top 20% of their respective Boards' Class 12 examinations. The qualifying marks in the Class 12 examination for SC/ST candidates should be 65%.

The online registration for for the first edition of JEE-Main will end on January 12. The exam will be conducted between January 24 and 31.

According to the JEE (Main) 2023 information bulletin, admission to BE/BTech/ BArch/BPlanning programmes in the NITs, IIITs, and CFT via central seat allocation board will be based on all India rank with the additional eligibility of at least 75 per cent in aggregate in the class 12 examination conducted by the respective education boards.

"The 20 percentile criteria will help those candidates who are short of 75 per cent aggregate in their class 12 boards. Discussions were held and since many of the top 20 percentile candidates in a number of state boards score below 75 per cent marks or 350 marks, the ministry decided that if a candidate is in the top 20 percentile he or she is eligible," a source said.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to defer the JEE Mains examination scheduled later this month.

A division bench of Chief Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne held that it would not be appropriate to postpone the pan-India examination in response to a Public Interest Litigation as it would affect lakhs of IIT aspirants.

The Public Interest Litigation was filed by child rights activist Anubha Sahai who wanted the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains to be deferred till March.

The petition challenged the National Testing Agency's (NTA) December 15 notification scheduling the examination between January 24 to 31, 2023.