Delhi High Court Declines Relief To CUET Candidate Who Was Late To Exam Centre, Says Discipline Must Be Maintained

The Delhi High Court has rejected a plea filed by a candidate who was unable to give Common University Entrance Test (UG) Exam conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) as she reached the examination centre beyond the gate closing timings, as prescribed in the admit card.A division bench comprising Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Rajneesh Kumar Gupta observed that in the conduct of such a large-scale examination, leniency would lead to chaos and the discipline of the examination ought to be maintained. The Court dismissed the candidate's plea challenging the single judge order denying her relief on May 28. The single judge had held that a lenient view cannot be taken in such matters.Dismissing her appeal, the division bench observed:“The CUET is an important entrance examination and the discipline in arriving at the examination hall in time, taking the seat in time and being at the centre before the gate closing time, are all part of the discipline and ethos of the examination ecosystem which ought not to be relaxed, inasmuch as, the same may lead to huge inequities between similarly placed students.”It added that if the decision to let the candidate in was taken by the concerned Invigilator or Supervisor, on the spot, it would have been fine. However, the authorities cannot be blamed for enforcing the rule of gate closing timings strictly.The Court rejected the candidate's argument that there would be discrimination as there may not be uniform implementation of the instruction in the admit card as also the information bulletin. It added that such discrimination cannot be considered as a valid ground to interfere, inasmuch as, all students who violate the gate closing time, would be acting contrary to the instructions.“Article 14 of the Constitution cannot be applied to compare persons violating the rules of the examination. When students act contrary to the instructions of any given examination, such students cannot argue, inter se, discrimination in the opinion of this Court.,” it said. Further, the Court said that there may be hundreds of students, who may have reached the examination centres late and an exception cannot be created in favour of the appellant candidate. “Moreover, there are only three-four days of the exams which are left now, and in such circumstances, the NTA cannot be expected to now create a separate schedule or slot for the Appellant to enable her to take the examinations in the specific subjects which she missed out on 13th May, 2025,” the Court observed. Rejecting the plea, the Bench said that CUET UG examination is an exam where more than 13.54 lacs students from across the country appear and if exceptions are made and discipline is not followed in such an exam, the timely conduct of the exam, the timely announcement of results and timely admission to colleges and Universities is all likely to be jeopardised and there would be a cascading effect.In such matters, the interference by the Court should be the least, it said. Title: MS SADHANA YADAV v. UNION OF INDIA & ORSCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 662Click here to read order

Delhi High Court Declines Relief To CUET Candidate Who Was Late To Exam Centre, Says Discipline Must Be Maintained

Nupur Thapliyal

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