New Delhi, May 29 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Monday junked a plea against the eligibility criterion of 75 per cent score in higher secondary examination for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

A vacation bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K.V. Viswanathan said the court is not keen to intervene in the matter and pointed out that this prerequisite existed earlier too. The bench stressed that these are education matters and "not a matter we want to get into".

Counsel, representing the petitioners, submitted before the bench that students were given a waiver during the Covid pandemic and students have scored more than 90 per cent in Joint Entrance Examination-Main. Counsel cited that the applicant has scored 92 percentile in JEE Mains and is eligible to appear in JEE Advance but the applicant's board exam score is less than 75 per cent.

The counsel emphasised that these students are meritorious and urged the court to allow them.

The bench, in its order, said: "We find no reason to entertain this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. The writ petition is dismissed accordingly. Pending application(s) stands disposed of."

The apex court passed the order on a petition filed by Chandan Kumar and others challenging the eligibility criterion of 75 per cent marks in Class 12 board exams for admission to IITs.