Supreme Court agrees to urgently hear petitions to postpone GATE 2022 due to Covid-19

NEW DELHI: In view of the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic, a couple of petitions has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking postponement of GATE 2022. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2022 is scheduled to be held on February 5, 6, 12, 13, 2022. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Hima Kohli on Wednesday agreed to list the matters urgently, Live Law reported.

The petitioners sought an interim relief of stay on the GATE 2022 exam till the final decision in the matter is passed by the Supreme Court. The petition further said that more than 9 lakh students are appearing for the exam across 200 exam centers and the exam conducting authority, IIT Kharagpur has not released any Covid-19 guidelines or set out procedures to assess the health conditions of the students appearing for the exam.

Also read | Maharashtra students protest against offline exams for Class 10, 12; Story so far

Meanwhile, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has released a travel pass for all GATE 2022 or Joint Admission Test for Masters (JAM 2022) candidates. Aspirants can use this pass for smooth movement to reach the GATE exam centre on the exam day. IIT Kharagpur released the GATE 2022 admit card on January 15 at gate.iitkgp.ac.in

In mid-January, over 23,000 candidates appearing for the GATE examination in February have joined a petition demanding the exam be postponed in view of the third wave of COVID-19.

"With the current third wave, COVID-19 due to its new variant Omicron has spread severely in several states, cities. Several studies including one done by IIT Kanpur predict that the peak of the 3rd wave is expected in early February and the wave will end by April. Therefore, the peak is most likely to coincide with the usual exam dates of GATE," the petition read.