"GATE 2022 Not To Be Postponed," Says Supreme Court | Exams To Be Held From Feb 5

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"GATE 2022 Not To Be Postponed," Says Supreme Court | Exams To Be Held From Feb 5

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition that sought the postponement of the GATE 2022 exam due to the impending 3rd wave of Covid 19. The petition was signed by over 23,000 GATE aspirants, and as per reports, it was heard by a bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath. After the decision, GATE 2022 exam will be held as per the originally released exam dates, i.e. on February 5, 6, 12, and 13, in 203 centers across 8 zonal cities.

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“The plea for postponement of the GATE examination barely 48 hours before the scheduled date on February 5, 2022, is replete with a propensity for chaos and uncertainty in the lives of the students who have registered for the examination", the apex court observed.

The Petitioners' Demand

The petitioners - mostly aspirants who will be appearing for GATE 2022, argued that the country is currently suffering from rising Covid 19 cases. With the number of daily cases touching 3 Lakhs in India, concerns were raised regarding the difficulties that candidates will face while traveling to the examination centre.

IIT-Kharagpur - the organizing institute of GATE exams 2022 - had addressed the concerns by issuing a travel pass for GATE candidates. The travel pass can be downloaded online from the official website of GATE-IIT-KGP.

"There is no overarching reason that this court in the exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution should supplant the duties and functions of the regulatory authorities who have taken a decision to hold the examination,” the bench said.

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What’s been brewing?

The idea to release the travel pass for GATE came after a months-long protest by candidates on Twitter demanding the postponement of GATE 2022. #postponegate2022 was used by them to attract the attention of the concerned authorities.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and IIT Kharagpur director Virendra Kumar Tiware were being repeatedly tagged in the tweets. Once the petition was filed and the issue reached the courtroom, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in Thursday's session.

The petitioners had argued that the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, has not issued any clear guidelines or procedures to assess the health conditions of candidates. However, rejecting the postponement plea, the court said, "the students have prepared for it and the court cannot play with the career of the students by postponing the exam".