Supreme Court refuses to postpone GATE examination scheduled for February 5

Satya Prakash

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New Delhi, February 3

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a petition seeking postponement of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering Exam (GATE) commencing from February 5.

A Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud said interfering in the examination process just 48 hours before it was due to commence could create chaos and uncertainty.

The top court said it’s a policy matter on which the government authorities concerned should take a decision.

GATE 2022 Examinations are scheduled to take place in offline mode on February 5, 6, 12 and 13.

Stating that nine lakh students were appearing for GATE at hundreds of centres, the petitioners accused the authorities of not issuing Covid-appropriate guidelines for conducting the test.

“The plea for postponement of GATE 2022 examination just 48 hours before scheduled date on February 5 is replete with potential for chaos and uncertainty in lives of students. There is no overarching reason why this court should under Article 32 (of the Constitution) supplant the role of authorities,” the top court said declining the plea.

It said, “We cannot start postponing exams like this. Everything is opening up now; we cannot play with careers of students like this. One petitioner is a coaching centre. This is an academic policy matter.”