JEE Advanced 2026: IIT Roorkee issues counseling clarification, addresses data security concerns

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee has clarified that candidates who do not currently meet the minimum Class 12 marks requirement can continue participating in the ongoing counseling process, provided they submit revised scorecards meeting the eligibility criteria by July 15.

The institute has also responded to concerns regarding an alleged data security incident involving aspirants' information.

With JoSAA counseling having commenced on June 2, IIT Roorkee said students whose Class 12 scores are presently below the required threshold will still be allowed to fill in their choices and receive seat allotments based on their JEE Advanced ranks.

In a post on X, the institute said, "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.”

The institute said candidates whose marks improve through verification, scrutiny, or re-evaluation must submit their revised scorecards to [email protected] by July 15, 2026.

According to IIT Roorkee, seat allocation will continue based on candidates' JEE Advanced ranks during counseling.

Once a revised scorecard meeting the eligibility requirement is received and verified, admission will be granted according to the seat allotted at the end of the fourth round of counseling.

The post further stated, "On receipt of the same, admission will be given to whichever seat is allocated to you at the end of 4th round."

The clarification comes amid concerns among some CBSE Class 12 students who believe alleged discrepancies related to the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system may have affected their scores and, consequently, their admission prospects.

Under the existing eligibility criteria, candidates seeking admission to IITs through JEE Advanced must secure at least 75% marks in Class 12 or equivalent examinations. For SC, ST, and PwD candidates, the minimum requirement is 65%.

The institute said the arrangement allows students awaiting the outcome of board re-evaluation and verification processes to remain in the admission process without any change to the existing eligibility rules.

IIT Roorkee had earlier said that the minimum marks criterion could not be relaxed because admissions involve candidates from 36 different education boards.

JEE Advanced 2026 results were declared on June 1, with a total of 56,880 candidates qualifying for admission to IITs and other leading engineering institutions.

Shubham Kumar from the IIT Delhi zone secured All India Rank (AIR) 1 with 330 marks out of 360.

Kabeer Chhillar secured the second rank with 329 marks, while Jatin Chahar finished third with 319 marks. All three top rank holders belonged to the IIT Delhi zone.

A total of 187,389 candidates registered for JEE Advanced 2026, and 179,694 appeared in both examination papers conducted on May 17.

Separately, IIT Roorkee has rejected reports suggesting a large-scale data breach involving JEE Advanced aspirants.

In a statement posted on X, the institute described claims circulating on social media as "misleading" and "factually incorrect."

According to IIT Roorkee, technical interventions were carried out on June 2 to help candidates facing difficulties in accessing admit card data and to ensure the smooth functioning of registration systems. During the process, a temporary misconfiguration occurred in a cloud storage component.

The institute said ethical hacker Rylen Anil identified the issue and reported it after gaining access to the affected database. IIT Roorkee said the vulnerability was immediately fixed and access was restricted.

"The affected storage was read-only, meaning no data could be edited or deleted. An analysis of cloud access logs confirmed that no bulk download occurred, with read-only access limited to less than 0.05% of the data. No sensitive information was compromised or mass-extracted. This incident had zero impact on examination outcomes, including marks, ranks, and category of the candidates," the institute said.

Reaffirming its commitment to maintaining the integrity of the admission process, IIT Roorkee stated, "IIT Roorkee remains fully committed to maintaining the integrity, security and transparency of the JEE (Advanced) and JoSAA counseling processes. Deliberate attempts to misrepresent this technical event and undermine public trust in the examination system are deeply concerning and should be discouraged."

The institute added that the JEE Advanced team remains focused on ensuring a smooth and secure admission process for aspirants seeking admission to the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

Anil also disputed claims of a large-scale leak, saying, "I have noticed claims saying all JEE candidate data was leaked. While there was a vulnerability, I have not seen evidence supporting claims of a large-scale leak. The issue was promptly reported and swiftly fixed by IIT officials."

He further said, "I only downloaded a small number of files for verification purposes and deleted them afterwards. This is a serious matter and should not be used to make unfounded claims or spread misinformation."