LI Network
Published on: 2 August 2023 at 15:18 IST
The Delhi High Court recently dismissed a plea filed by a female student seeking a retest of the Common University Entrance Test (UG)-2023 (CUET).
The student argued for a retest on the ground of her inability to appear for the Psychology subject exam, which took place in June this year. However, the Court held that granting a retest at this stage would negatively affect the ongoing admission process.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, presiding over the single bench, stated, “This court does not find any merit in interfering in the present matter, at this stage, as the results of the said examinations have already been declared, and the counselling is likely to commence soon.
At this stage, any direction to arrange or assign the merit position to the petitioner, who could not appear in the said examination, would have the negative effect of derailing the admission process.”
The Court refused to intervene in the matter since the examination results were already declared, and the admission process was underway.
The petitioner had filed a writ petition seeking a retest of the CUET for the Psychology subject, citing that she was unable to appear for the exam due to a lack of timely communication from the National Testing Agency (NTA) regarding the availability of admit cards.
The petitioner, who had completed her Class 12th in the Humanities stream in 2023, had planned to go abroad for a vacation with her parents, assuming that the admit cards would be released three days before the exam. However, the NTA only provided the admit cards through email one day before the exam, leaving her unable to appear for it while abroad.
In response to the petitioner’s claims, the High Court examined the public notice issued by the NTA, which mentioned the availability of admit cards starting from 13th June 2023 for the exam scheduled on 15th June 2023.
The Court found that the NTA had complied with its notice, and the petitioner had sufficient time to access her admit card before the exam.
The Court further clarified that buffer dates for the examination were scheduled for certain states and Union Territories and were not intended for candidates who missed the exam on 15th to 17th June 2023.
Consequently, the High Court dismissed the petition, emphasizing that no fault could be attributed to the respondents for not allowing the petitioner to appear for buffer examinations.
The Court maintained that granting a retest at this stage would disrupt the admission process and upheld the previous examination results.