GATE Exam 2022 Postponement
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GATE 2022 Postponement: The Supreme Court on Wednesday, February 2, 2022 agreed to hear the plea that seeks deferment of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2022 Exam, owing to the skyrocketing Covid-19 cases in the country. The bench consisting of Chief Justices NV Ramana, AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli will list the plea on an urgent basis, as the exams have been scheduled for February 5, 6, 12 and 13.
Two petitions have been filed pertaining to the issue- one by the candidates slated to appear in the GATE 2022 Exam, while the other one is a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Umesh Dhande, proprietor of an education institute that mentors students for GATE and other competitive exams.
The plea stated, "The country, at present, is reeling under the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic, with the daily tally touching the 3 lakh mark and above. Amidst the frightening situation that has engulfed the entire country, the petitioners are being forced to appear for the GATE Exam 2022 in the offline/physical mode which poses numerous threats for them, in view of the rapidly transmitting infections."
In addition to this, the petitioners have also challenged the instructions issued by the Centre on January 15, 2022, for the candidates appearing for the examination. The petitioners asserted that as more than 9 lakh students would be appearing for the exam at approximately 200 exam centres, there were no procedures listed in the instructions to assess the health conditions of the appearing candidates.
In view of this, the pleas stated, "The issued instructions lack clarity and cause confusion among students, as the classification between students who will be allowed to appear for the exam and the ones who will be barred is still not clarified. According to the instructions, asymptomatic students who are showing symptoms will be allowed to appear in the exam, while the ones who have tested positive but are asymptomatic will be barred from appearing. Thus, the above instructions are violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India."
At last, the petitioners also contended that numerous Indian states have already deferred some of their exams scheduled in January and February 2022, in light of the third wave striking the country.
