Apex court agrees to hear plea seeking postponement of GATE 2022
The Top Court today agreed to list a plea seeking postponement of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering Exam (GATE) commencing from February 5 due to the COVID pandemic situation.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana, Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of lawyer Pallav Mongia seeking listing of the plea.
While one writ petition has been filed by the students seeking postponement of the exam, the other is a PIL filed seeking the same relief.
The petitioners have also challenged the instructions dated 15.01.2022 issued by the Union of India by which instructions to the candidates appearing for the exam were notified. The said notification/ Instructions to the candidates were annexed with the admit cards.
The PIL has further sought an interim relief of stay on the GATE 2022 exam till the final decision in the matter is passed by the Supreme Court
“This is about the GATE examination. Nine lakh students are appearing in the examination which is commencing on Saturday. The admit cards have been issued. Please list the matter,” the lawyer said.
It has been said that nine lakh students are appearing in the test at 200 centres and the authorities have not issued any COVID-appropriate guidelines for conducting the exam.
The GATE is an examination which tests the understanding of various undergraduate subjects in engineering and science for admission into the Masters Programme and Recruitment by some PSUs.
The GATE admit card has already been released, and the candidates can use heir admit cards as curfew-passes or movement passes to move from their homes to the GATE exam centres. The IIT Kharagpur in an official statement mentioned, "“The Organising Institute of GATE Examination 2022, IIT Kharagpur under Ministry of Education, Government of India, issues a letter to ensure smooth movement of the candidates carrying valid admit cards on the day of examination, i.e. 5th, 6th, 12th and 13th February, 2022 for GATE Examination 2022."
Today finally the bench said “We will list it”.
