Why SC Refused To Hear PIL Against UGC-NET Cancellation

Rustopte

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posted on 3 months ago — updated on 1 second ago

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CJI DY Chandrachud said, “Why are you (lawyer) coming? Let the students come here themselves.”

On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to hear a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that challenged the government’s decision to cancel the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) exam due to the question paper leak. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra claimed that the dismissal of the PIL does not mean a decision on the merits of the PIL because it was filed by a lawyer and not by the students.

The CJI said, “Why are you (lawyer) coming? Let the students come here themselves.” It was also added, “While declining the above PIL, we express nothing on merits”. Further, the bench asked the PIL petitioner, advocate Ujjawal Gaur to rather focus on legal matters and leave such cases for the aggrieved students.

This petition was filed against the cancellation of the exam by the Union Education Ministry’s and the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) decision to cancel the UGC-NET. On June 19, the ministry cancelled the exam and handed over the case to the CBI for further investigation. Meanwhile, Ujjawal Gaur’s petition requested an immediate stay on the re-examination of the UGC-NET till the CBI comes to a definite conclusion regarding the question paper leak controversy.

The petitioner also claimed that the cancellation of the exams has led to students getting distressed and anxious. Also, it is now an unnecessary expenditure of resources for the aspirants who have studied rigorously for this important examination.

On June 20, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan shared that the UGC-NET exam’s question paper was leaked on the internet. The online paper was verified and it turned out to be a match of the original question paper, hence the exams were cancelled.

The UGC-NET re-exam will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) from August 21 to September 4. Meanwhile, the Joint Council of Scientific and Industrial Research National Eligibility Test, (CSIR NET) was conducted as a Computer Based Test (CBT) from July 25 to July 27.