Supreme Court refuses to postpone GATE 2022

As per reports, a bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath said that taking any action on the petitions 48 hours prior to the commencement of the exam will lead to uncertainty.

“The plea for postponement of the GATE examination barely 48 hours before the scheduled date on February 5, 2022, is replete with a propensity for chaos and uncertainty in the lives of the students who have registered for the examination. There is no overarching reason that this court in the exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution should supplant the duties and functions of the regulatory authorities who have taken a decision to hold the examination,” the bench said.

The bench said that it is a matter of academic policy as to when the examination should be held and the court cannot enter this arena. It noted that nine lakh students are to appear in the examination and around 20,000 students have signed an online petition for postponing the examination.

“The students have prepared for it and the court cannot play with the career of the students by postponing the examination,” the bench observed.
On Wednesday, the top court had agreed to list the plea seeking postponement of GATE.

The petitioners argued that the country is currently suffering from a rising number of covid cases with daily cases touching a record 3 lakh and above.

While stating that more than 9 lakh students are appearing for the exam across 200 exam centres, the petitioners argued that the IIT Kharagpur has not issued any guidelines or set out procedures to assess the health conditions of the students appearing for the exam. — With PTI inputs.