The Centre moved the Supreme Court on Monday, urging the apex court to consider 15 points. The court decided not to entertain a plea filed by some candidates staged to challenge the Centre’s decision to cancel the UGC-NET 2024 examination. This decision was made following cases of paper leakage, which provoked the authorities into action.
Another bench, with present CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, dismissed all the pleas, arguing that entertaining all such requests would just create more confusion, which would lead to chaos.
The court pointed out the need to give assurances to nine lakh students who were preparing for the exam expected to be held on August 21, among other reasons. The bench also pointed out that while the UGC-NET examination was held on June 18, the government decided to cancel it the very next day on the grounds of its alleged tainted character.
There cannot be Madhyamik: Let it happen on August 21. Let the students have certainty. How can we now cancel the examinations? said the bench, which sees, unlike some vocal sections, that the show must go on because the world is not perfect.
Before this, the Supreme Court had declined an identical petition on this subject matter, saying that it had been moved by a lawyer and not any of the affected candidates.
Another writ petition was also moved against the action of the Union Education Ministry and the National Testing Agency (NTA) to cancel the UGC-NET examination, keeping in view the perceived compromised integrity. The education ministry directed the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam on June 19 and has transferred the matter to the CBI for an investigation.
The Supreme Court has stressed the need to maintain stability and certainty in the examination process and not indulge requests challenging the cancellation. To this end, the decision sought to give the students the time they need for preparations without complicating their processes with legal, and thus time-consuming, factors.
