SC refuses to entertain plea against Centre's decision to cancel UGC-NET exam

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea against the Union government's order to cancel the UGC-NET 2024 exams, rescheduled for August 21, after the allegations of paper leakage, saying interfering at this stage with the decision to conduct the retest would result into "utter chaos".

A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra declined to entertain the plea, saying the examinations should take place as per the date.

"Let there be finality, we are not in a perfect world. Let the exams happen on August 21. Let there be certainty for students," the bench said.

Hearing a plea by Parveen Dabas and others, the court noted that there are only 47 petitioners but nine lakh candidates would be appearing in the UGC NET.

The UGC-NET was conducted on June 19, but it was cancelled by the Centre. A decision was taken to hold a fresh exam on August 21.

"At present stage, the petitioners have challenged the decision. Nearly two months have lapsed, entertaining the petition now would only add uncertainty and result in utter chaos," the bench said.

The court noted that due to the row over NEET, the government became doubly careful and took the decision to cancel the UGC NET examination due to allegations of paper leakage.

The petitioners asked the court to expedite the CBI investigation, which the court refused.

Their plea argued that the CBI has recently found that the evidence suggesting a paper leak was fake, therefore, "it raises questions on the reasonability of the decision to cancel the exam".

The Union Education Ministry on June 19 had ordered the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam and handed over the matter to the CBI for an investigation.