UGC NET Paper Leak: Supreme Court Refuses to Entertain Plea Against Govt Decision to Cancel NTA NET Exam

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea against the government’s decision to cancel UGC-NET on grounds of a question paper leak. The matter was heard on Monday(August 12) by a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. Currently, the National Testing Agency(NTA) will hold the UGC NET examination from August 21, 2024. As per a PTI report, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the government is conducting the exam afresh on August 21 and the students, who are around nine lakh, must have some kind of “certainty now”.
“The Supreme Court stepping now will have a serious effect and there will be chaos all over,” the CJI said while declining to entertain the plea filed by Praveen Dabas and others. The bench said the exam was held on June 18 and was cancelled a day after that. “Entertaining the plea at the present stage would only add to uncertainty and add to utter chaos,” the CJI said, adding the Central government must be “doubly cautious after the NEET-UG fiasco and thus it was cancelled. Let this process go on now”.
“Why are you (lawyer) coming? Let the students come here themselves,” CJI to Lawyers 
Earlier, the top court had dismissed a PIL on the issue, saying it was filed by a lawyer and not by aggrieved candidates. “Why are you (lawyer) coming? Let the students come here themselves,” the CJI had told the lawyer, adding “while declining the above PIL, we express nothing on merits”. As per PTI report, the bench had asked advocate Ujjawal Gaur, who has filed the PIL as a petitioner, to focus on some legal matters and leave such issues for aggrieved persons.
The earlier plea was also filed against the decision of the Union education ministry and the National Testing Agency to cancel the UGC-NET exam following inputs that its integrity may have been compromised. The ministry on June 19 had ordered the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam and handed over the matter to the CBI for an investigation.
“On 19th June, 2024, the University Grants Commission (UGC) received certain inputs from National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs on the Examination. These inputs prima-facie indicate that the integrity of the aforesaid examination may have been compromised,” the press release said.
“To ensure the highest level of transparency and sanctity of the examination process, the Ministry of Education, Government of India has decided that the UGC-NET June 2024 Examination be cancelled. A fresh examination shall be conducted, for which information shall be shared separately. Simultaneously, the matter is being handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I.) for thorough investigation in the matter,” the statement further reads.
UGC NET Re-Examination From August 21
Going by the revised schedule, the National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct UGC – NET June 2024 for (i) ‘award of Junior Research Fellowship and appointment as Assistant Professor’, (ii) ‘appointment as Assistant Professor and admission to Ph.D.’ and (iii) ‘admission to Ph.D. only’ in 83 subjects in CBT, mode between August 21 to September 4, 2024. The examination will be held in two shifts. The exam city slip and the admit card will be released anytime soon at
Candidates are also advised to visit the NTA website(s) www.nta.ac.in and for the latest updates. For further clarification related to UGC – NET June 2024, the candidates can also contact 011-40759000 or email ugcnet@nta.ac.in.
(With PTI Inputs)