The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea made by aspirants to postpone the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) examination 2022 due to COVID-19, saying interference merely 48 hours before the scheduled examination would create a potential for "chaos and uncertainty" for students.
"Postponement of GATE exam 2022 barely 48 hours before the scheduled date is replete with a potential for chaos and uncertainty for students who have registered for the exam," a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed in a short order dismissing the petition.
The court said there was no "overarching situation for the court under Article 32 of the Constitution to supplant the duties and functions of the regulatory authorities to hold the examination".
The Bench said that after a "considered perspective of the position" and considering the circumstances while dealing with the issue, the court should not interfere in academic matters.
The students, represented by advocate Pallav Mongia, said there was complete lockdown in various States such as Jammu and Kashmir. The virus had spread widely in States such as Kerala, which had imposed a lockdown during the weekend.
The lives of students were at risk. They sought the examination to be rescheduled by a month.
Justice Chandrachud observed that there would never be an "absolutely clear situation" under the circumstances, and the court would not want to intervene and create havoc in the future of the students because the virus was dominant in some of the States. The Bench said the examination was notified months back and the students should have prepared for it.
The examination is scheduled to be held offline in February. The Union and IIT Kharagpur are the regulatory authorities.
The petition had pointed out that several examinations were rescheduled by various government agencies due to the pandemic. It had said the examination could turn out to be a super-spreader as the rules were arbitrary and unreasonable.
