SC dismisses pleas seeking postponement of GATE 2022

GATE Exam postponement News: SC dismisses the plea to postpone the exam. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2022 will be held on February 5, 6, 12 and 13.

GATE exam postponement news: The Supreme Court today dismissed petitions seeking postponement of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) in view of the third wave of the COVID-19. The exam is scheduled to be held this month. 

The apex court said the GATE exam postponement will create "chaos & uncertainty" among the aspirants. “The plea for postponement of the GATE 48 hours before the scheduled date on February 5, 2022, is replete with a propensity for chaos and uncertainty in the lives of the students who have registered for the examination. There is no overarching reason that this court in the exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution should supplant the duties and functions of the regulatory authorities who have taken a decision to hold the examination,” the Bench said.

Meanwhile, Bar and Bench tweeted, “SC ORDER: There is no overarching reason why this court should under article 32 supplant the role of authorities. consistent with a circumspection which this court must exercise in academic pleas, these petitions are accordingly DISMISSED #GATE2022.” 

Though the exam is scheduled to be held on February 5, 6, 12 and 13, a majority of the students still want to postpone GATE 2022 in view of the rising COVID-19 cases. On February 2, a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana agreed to list the matters urgently, after it was mentioned by Advocate Pallav Mongia, on behalf of the petitioners.   

Over 23K aspirants signed an online petition for postponement of the exam 

More than 23,000 aspirants had joined a petition demanding to postpone GATE 202 in view of the rising COVID-19 cases across the country. The petition stated that the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron, has spread severely across many states of India. Likely to be the third wave of the pandemic, several studies, including the one done by IIT Kanpur, suggested that the peak of the wave is expected in early February and will last till April 2022. The suggested time of the peak is coinciding with the GATE 2022 exam.   

Referring to the same, the petition suggested further that if the GATE 2022 exam dates are not postponed, the candidates appearing in the exam will be exposed to the imminent risk of getting infected. Further, it may spread to their family members and may become a threat to their life.  

What is GATE? 

GATE is a computer-based test (CBT) conducted every year for admission to postgraduate engineering (ME/MTech) and research programmes. The entrance exam is jointly conducted by either the Indian Institute for Science, Bangalore (IISC Bangalore), IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, or IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, and IIT Roorkee on a rotational basis. Students who seek to get admission in postgraduate programmes and jobs in PSUs can also take GATE.  

Read more:

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• GATE 2022 to be held as per schedule, students trend #NO_GATE_IN_FEB, #postponegate2022