Six ministers of opposition ruled states on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking review of its order permitting Centre to conduct NEET and JEE exams in Septemeber. States that have moved the top court are Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

The Supreme Court on August 17 had dismissed a petition to postpone the medical and engineering entrance examinations in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The apex court had observed that “careers of students could not be put in jeopardy”.

During a meeting called by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi earlier this week, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Punjab counterpart Captain Amarinder Singh had called states to approach the Supreme Court seeking an order to postpone the exams. “Let us go to the Supreme Court and postpone the exam for the time being until and unless the situation allows students to appear for the exams,” Mamata had said during the virtual meeting attended by CMs of seven states.

Meanwhile, the Congress on Friday launched a nationwide campaign against the government’s decision to hold NEET and JEE, party leader Rahul Gandhi urging people to speak up for the safety of students.

“Unite your voice with lakhs of suffering students. #SpeakUpFor StudentSafety…Let’s make the government listen to the students,” Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter.

Earlier, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ made it clear that the exams won’t be deferred as the decision was taken in consultation of all stakeholders, including parents and students. The minister pointed out that lakhs of students have already downloaded their admit cards.

“National Testing Agency (NTA) officials told me that over seven lakh candidates have downloaded the JEE-Main admit cards while over 10 lakh aspirants have downloaded the NEET admit cards. This shows that the students want the exams be held at any cost,” Pokhriyal said.