No relaxation in 75% class 12 marks rule for IIT admissions, says Joint Admission Board

The demands were made in the wake of growing concerns among students over the delay in re-evaluation process of CBSE exams.

Updated on: Jun 6, 2026, 01:02:39 IST

By Sanjay Maurya

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There will be no change in the minimum 75% marks criterion for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) through JEE (Advanced) 2026, the Joint Admission Board (JAB) clarified on Thursday amid demands for one-time relaxation in Class 12 eligibility requirements.

No change in IIT admission eligibility despite CBSE re-evaluation delays. (Santosh Kumar/ HT)

The demands were made in the wake of growing concerns among students over the delay in re-evaluation process of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exams after the introduction of On-Screen Marking (OSM) system this year.

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Eligibility criteria cannot be lowered

Responding to demands from students and parents amid delays in final CBSE results due to ongoing re-evaluation requests, JAB, chaired by IIT Roorkee director Kamal Kishore Pant, said the eligibility criteria cannot be lowered because candidates from 36 different school boards participate in the admission process.

“No relaxation in marks as candidates from 36 different boards are participating. We published this criterion almost in December and last year there were candidates who lost IIT/NIT seats mainly due to percentages. Hence, lowering is not possible; however, we are in close touch with CBSE and will try to resolve this for all those affected candidates on priority,” the JAB said in a statement.

What the board said earlier

Earlier on June 1, Pant said all JEE (Advanced) qualified candidates should participate in JoSAA counselling 2026 irrespective of their Class 12 marks.

“However, the final admission shall remain subject to the fulfilment of the percentage-related eligibility requirements and other applicable conditions prescribed in the JEE (Advanced) 2026 Information Brochure,” he said.

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A total of 56,880 candidates qualified JEE (Advanced) 2026, a 4.6% increase over last year. Of them, 46,773 are men and 10,107 are women — the highest number of women ever to qualify for the examination.

The qualified candidates will compete for 18,951 B Tech seats across 23 IITs through the counselling process conducted by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority, meaning only about one in three qualified candidates will ultimately secure an IIT seat.

Under 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 percentile successful candidates in their respective school boards.

The JoSAA 2026 counselling registration and choice-filling process officially opened on June 2, 2026. The window for registration and choice filling is open until June 11 and this year’s counselling will be conducted across 5 rounds of seat allocation till July 21.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanjay Maurya
Sanjay Maurya is a Principal Correspondent with Hindustan Times, where he covers education, with a focus on school and higher education, competitive examinations, education policy and governance. Working as part of the National Bureau, he is based in New Delhi and reports on the Ministry of Education and covers various statutory bodies like UGC, AICTE and NCTE and autonomous bodies like CBSE and NCERT. His reporting also tracks the implementation of key government reforms and policies from school education to higher education including in IITs, NITs, IIMs, central and state universities, and their impact on students and educational institutions. His reporting on the irregularities and rushed implementation of CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluation of Class 12 board exams 2026, triggered administrative action, leading to the transfer of the board's two senior-most officials and the constitution of a committee to probe alleged irregularities in procurement process of the system. He joined Hindustan Times in December 2024. Prior to that, he had a three-year stint at Careers360, where he reported on school and higher education, entrance examinations, admissions, rankings and various education policies involving universities and professional education bodies. Over the years, Maurya has reported extensively on major developments in India's education sector, including the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, reforms in the National Testing Agency (NTA) following the NEET-UG 2024 controversy, changes in school education, higher education regulation, and the evolution of entrance examinations such as NEET, JEE and CUET. He regularly produces data-driven and explanatory stories based on government documents, parliamentary proceedings, court records and official data. His focus remains on helping readers understand how education policies and institutional decisions affect millions of students, teachers and educational institutions across the country.Read More

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