HC dismisses plea for retest of CUET for individual candidate

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to direct the authorities to conduct a retest of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) (UG) – 2023 for a candidate who could not appear for the exam held on June 15. The high court refused to interfere in the matter saying the results of the examinations have already been declared and the counselling is likely to commence soon.

"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 the effect of arranging or assigning the merit position to the petitioner (candidate), who could not appear in the said examination, would have the negative effect of derailing the admission process. The petition is accordingly dismissed," Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said.

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The high court passed the order on a petition seeking to direct the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct a retest of the CUET (UG)-2023 for the petitioner on account of her inability to appear for the exam for Psychology subject that was conducted on June 15. CUET, the common gateway for undergraduate admissions in all central universities, is now the second-largest entrance examination in the country. The counsel for the petitioner said the candidate was desirous of pursuing graduation in Psychology subject and had filled up the form for CUET (UG)-2023.

The counsel said in accordance with the public notice of April 30, 2023, the NTA, which conducts the examination, specifically announced that the release of admit cards for the examination would take place three days before the actual date of examination. He said according to the earlier information published by the NTA, the dates of examination would be between May 21 and May 31, 2023 and the dates for publication of results would be between June 1 and June 7. Relying upon the information, the petitioner had planned to go abroad for vacation between June 8 and June 17 and she had gone to Turkey, the lawyer submitted before the court.

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He, however, said the NTA made the admit cards available to the petitioner through email only on June 14, one day before the exam which was on June 15 due to which she could not appear as she was abroad. The lawyer said the petitioner sent several emails and communications to the authorities stating her difficulty in appearing for the exam on that day but there was no response. The counsel for NTA opposed the petitioner's plea to allow her to appear in the buffer examination, saying the provision of buffer dates was created only for certain states and it was not available to those candidates who had already been issued the admit cards.

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NTA's lawyer submitted that when lakhs of candidates appeared for the examination without any difficulty, the inconveniences and grievances of individual candidates cannot be redressed and the public interest at large is of paramount importance and the individual interest cannot supersede the larger public interest. He said since the result of the examination has already been declared on July 15, no direction can be given to conduct a special examination for one candidate.