The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that challenged the government’s decision to cancel the UGC-NET examination due to allegations of question paper leak.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and including Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, dismissed the PIL brought by lawyer Ujjawal Gaur. The plea challenged the proposition of re-examination of the UGC-NET exam until the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) completed its investigation into the alleged paper leak. However, the court dismissed the plea.
The court emphasized that this dismissal does not reflect any judgment on the merits of the PIL since it was not filed by the students who were directly affected. Chief Justice Chandrachud questioned the lawyer’s involvement, saying, “Why are you (lawyer) coming? Let the students come here themselves.” The bench advised advocate Ujjawal Gaur to focus on legal matters and suggested that the directly affected parties should address such issues.
The Union education ministry had canceled the UGC-NET exam on June 19, and the case was handed over to the CBI to investigate the potential paper leak.
The plea, filed through advocate Rohit Pandey, argued that the decision to cancel the exam was unjust, citing the CBI’s findings that suggested the evidence of the paper leak might have been manipulated.
Gaur argued that the cancellation caused significant distress, anxiety, and unnecessary expenses for the aspirants who had prepared rigorously for the examination. The court’s decision left the matter open for the affected students to pursue further if they want to do so.
