New Delhi, July 14:The Delhi High Court Thursday dismissed a petition by several National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) aspirants seeking to postpone the competitive examination for the year 2022 which is scheduled to be held on July 17, saying it was totally a “misconceived” plea with “no merit.” The high court said such kinds of petitions should be totally discouraged and added that as the petitioners were students so it was not going harsh on them, otherwise it would have imposed costs.
“This is totally a misconceived petition. The petitioners are students so the court is not going harsh. Had it been somebody else, the court would have dismissed the petition with heavy costs,” Justice Sanjeev Narula said.
The high court made it clear that if such matters are filed in the future, it will not shy away from imposing costs.
It questioned the petitioners’ counsel for approaching the court at the last moment as the exam for the undergraduate medical and dental courses was scheduled on July 17 and noted that vague statements were being made.
The petitioners had approached the court seeking to set aside the date fixed for the entrance test and re-schedule it after four to six weeks on several grounds, including that the schedule of the national level examinations, that is, NEET, JEE, and Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET), is “unorganised” and the same has “caused immense mental trauma and harassment resulting in 16 reported suicides of young students leaving their families in a state of despair”.
The petition stated that the class 12th board examination ended in mid of June 2022 and the students have been forced to prepare for three national-level examinations without getting sufficient time to prepare.
During the hearing, the court enquired as to when the schedule for the exam was released.
To this, the petitioners’ counsel Mamta Sharma said the schedule was announced in April.
“Why are you coming now? The schedule was announced in April, the exam is on July 17 and you are coming to court on July 14,” the court said. (PTI)
