In an emergency meeting, which was held virtually on October 13th, 2020, the Joint Admission Board (JAB), having the authority to frame the policies, rules and regulations of Joint Entrance Examination under the guidance of the IIT Council, has considered relaxation of the eligibility criteria and decided to permit an extra attempt for those candidates who were unable to appear in JEE (Advanced) 2020 on account of being Covid-19 positive.

The JAB also discussed in detail the various options open to it for those candidates who were prevented from appearing in JEE (Advanced) 2020 due to restrictions imposed due to Covid-19. Subsequently, to address the concerns of the affected candidates, while avoiding prejudice to other candidates, it has been decided to allow all the candidates, who had successfully registered to appear in JEE (Advanced) 2020 but were absent in the exam, to appear in JEE (Advanced) 2021, as a one-time measure.

To ensure equal opportunity to all, the JAB has also decided that these candidates will not have to qualify JEE (Main) 2021 and will be allowed to directly appear in JEE (Advanced) 2021 on the basis of their successful registration to appear in JEE (Advanced) 2020. This relaxation of existing eligibility criteria will be in addition to proportionate relaxation of age bar.

Further, it was decided that these candidates would be considered in addition to and not as part of the total number of candidates who would qualify from JEE (Main) 2021 for appearing in JEE (Advanced) 2021.

IIT Delhi was the organising institute for the JEE (Advanced) 2020.