Supreme Court to hear today pleas to postpone GATE 2022 due to COVID-19

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear today petitions seeking postponement of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2022 exam due to the third wave of COVID-19, as per Live Law. GATE 2022 is scheduled to be conducted on February 5, 6, 12, 13. The matter has been listed before a bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud today.

Yesterday, 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.

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Two writ petitions have been reportedly filed before the Supreme Court, one by students appearing for the exam and another a PIL (Public Interest Litigation).

The petition argued that over 9 lakh students are appearing for the exam across 200 exam centers and the exam conducting authority, IIT (Indian Institute to Technology) Kharagpur has not issued any COVID-19 guidelines or set out procedures to assess the health conditions of the candidates.

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The petitioners also sought an interim relief of stay on the GATE 2022 exam till the final decision in the matter is announced by the top court.

Earlier, in mid-January, over 23,000 candidates appearing for the GATE 2022 joined a petition demanding postponement of the exam due to the third wave of COVID-19.

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Amidst protest against the exam, IIT Kharagpur has released a travel pass for all GATE 2022 candidates. Aspirants can use this pass for smooth movement to reach the GATE exam centre on the exam day. The institute released the GATE 2022 admit card on January 15 at the official website - gate.iitkgp.ac.in.