Relief for JEE qualifiers affected by CBSE OSM row: IIT Roorkee permits seat allotment below 75 pc

A crucial lifeline has been extended to JEE Advanced 2026 qualifiers ensnared in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) evaluation dispute. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, announced on Friday night that affected candidates can actively participate in JoSAA counselling and secure seat allocations, even if they currently miss the mandatory Class XII percentage threshold.

The decision directly addresses intense panic among thousands of students whose ranks are jeopardised by widespread marking discrepancies linked to CBSE’s new digital On-Screen Marking system.

Stepping in to clarify the relaxed admissions protocol, the institute outlined a temporary buffer window. Regarding JEE admission 2026: IIT Roorkee says: For those students whose Class 12 (or equivalent) marks are less than 75% (for General/OBC-NCL/GEN-EWS categories) or less than 65% (for SC/ST/PwD categories), please note the following:

You are eligible to fill in your choices at present and seats will be allocated to you based on your rank. You need to send the revised score card with at least 75% or 65% as per your category by July 15th 2026, through the email orgjee@iitr.ac.in. On receipt of the same, admission will be given to whichever seat is allocated to you at the end of the 4th round.

Ordinarily, failing to hit these multi-board cut-offs triggers immediate disqualification. However, this conditional window prevents students from being frozen out upfront while their official re-evaluation or verification requests are being processed by CBSE, allowing them to confirm their seats retrospectively once rectified scores are submitted.