The Joint Admissions Board (JAB) on Thursday clarified that there will be no change in the criterion of minimum 75% marks for admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) till JEE (Advanced) 2026, amid demands for a one-time relaxation in eligibility requirements for Class 12.
These demands have been made in the wake of growing concerns among students over delay in the re-evaluation process of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examinations following the introduction of the On Screen Marking (OSM) system this year.
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Eligibility criteria cannot be lowered
Responding to demands from students and parents amid delay in final CBSE results due to ongoing re-evaluation demands, the JAB, headed by IIT Roorkee Director Kamal Kishore Pant, said the eligibility criteria cannot be lowered as candidates from 36 different school boards are involved in the admission process.
“There is no relaxation in marks as candidates from 36 different boards are participating. We had published this criterion around December and last year there were candidates who lost IIT/NIT seats mainly due to percentages. Hence, reduction is not possible; however, we are in close contact with CBSE and will try to resolve this issue for all affected candidates on priority,” JAB said in a statement.
What the council said earlier
Earlier on June 1, Pant had said that all candidates who qualify for JEE (Advanced) should participate in JoSAA counseling 2026 irrespective of their Class 12 marks.
“However, final admission shall remain subject to fulfillment of eligibility requirements relating to percentage and other applicable conditions stipulated in the JEE (Advanced) 2026 Information Booklet,” he said.
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A total of 56,880 candidates qualified for JEE (Advanced) 2026, an increase of 4.6% over last year. Among them, 46,773 were men and 10,107 were women – the highest number of women ever to qualify for the exam.
Eligible candidates will compete for 18,951 B Tech seats across 23 IITs through the counseling process conducted by the Joint Seat Allotment Body, which means only one in three eligible candidates will eventually get a seat in the IIT.
As per IIT admission rules, candidates must secure at least 75% aggregate marks in Class 12 (65% for SC, ST and PwD candidates) or be among the top 20 successful candidates in their respective school boards.
The JoSAA 2026 counseling registration and selection filling process was officially opened on 2nd June 2026. The registration and selection filling window is open till 11th June and this year’s counseling will be conducted across 5 rounds of seat allotment till 21st July.
