The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a new plea from examinees challenging the government’s decision to cancel the UGC-NET examination due to an alleged question paper leak, stating that doing so would create “chaos.”
A bench consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra noted that the government is already rescheduling the exam for August 21, and that the nearly 9 lakh students involved need “certainty now.”
“The Supreme Court stepping in now will have a serious effect and there will be chaos all over,” the Chief Justice said while rejecting the plea filed by Praveen Dabas and others.
The bench pointed out that the exam took place on June 18 and was canceled the next day. “Entertaining the plea at this stage would only add to uncertainty and cause utter chaos,” the Chief Justice remarked, emphasizing that the Central government, after the NEET-UG fiasco, must be “doubly cautious,” which is why the exam was canceled. “Let this process go on now.”
Previously, the top court had dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the matter, noting that it was filed by a lawyer rather than by affected candidates.
“Why are you (the lawyer) coming? Let the students come here themselves,” the Chief Justice had told the lawyer, adding that the court expressed “nothing on merits” while declining the PIL.
The bench had advised advocate Ujjawal Gaur, who filed the PIL as a petitioner, to focus on legal matters and leave such issues for those directly affected.
The earlier plea had also challenged the decision of the Union Education Ministry and the National Testing Agency to cancel the UGC-NET exam following concerns that the integrity of the exam may have been compromised.
On June 19, the ministry ordered the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam and referred the matter to the CBI for investigation.
