GATE 2022 - Supreme Court Agrees To Urgently Hear Pleas To Postpone GATE Due To COVID

In the backdrop of the ongoing third wave of the Covid19 pandemic and rise in number of cases, two writ petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court of India seeking postponement of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering Exam, 2022 (GATE 2022) which is scheduled to be held on 5th, 6th, 12th and 13th of February, 2022.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Hima Kohli on Wednesday agreed to list the matters urgently, after it was mentioned by Advocate Pallav Mongia on behalf of the petitioners.

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

The petitioners have argued that the country is currently suffering from a third Wave' of rising COVID cases with number of daily cases touching a record 3 lakh and above. However , the Respondents including the Union of India and IIT Kharagpur, have not taken into consideration the possibility of conducting GATE 2022 in physical mode turning into a potential super spreader event.

While stating that more than 9 lakh students are appearing for the exam across 200 exam centers, the petitioners have argued that the Respondents have not issued any guidelines or set out procedures to assess the health conditions of the students appearing for the exam. 

The petitioners have pointed out that the Instruction allows asymptomatic students who show symptoms to appear for the exam but does not put out how the center officials are to classify those students. Therefore, it has been argued that in such a situation it is extremely risky for students to appear for the exam in physical mode when no proper medical guidelines or procedure are in place at the exam center.

The PIL further states that the Instructions incentivises candidates who might be showing symptoms of Covid to not get tested for Covid as a positive test will bar them from appearing for the exam as per the instructions. On the contrary the instructions allow candidates who are showing symptoms but have not tested positive for Covid to appear for the exam.

"This classification is absurd and self-contradictory, and defeats the resolve of the Government to test maximum people for proper tracing and treatment in order to win the fight against the virus." the PIL states

Case Title: Umesh Dhande vs Union of India & Anr ( PIL), Sachin Tanwar & Ors vs Union of India & Ors

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