The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld the Central government's decision to temporarily block instant messaging platform Telegram in India ahead of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) re-examinations.
Telegram had approached the Court challenging the government's order restricting access to the platform until June 22.
Dismissing the petition, Justice Tejas Karia held that the Centre had demonstrated sufficient grounds for invoking its emergency powers under the Information Technology Act.
"R1 (Government) was empowered under Section 69A to direct blocking of access to Telegram. Test of proportionality is satisfied.The government's measures are least restrictive. It cannot be held that the order is disproportionate," the Court held, while dismissing Telegram's petition challenging the ban.
The Court observed that the reasons cited by the government justified the temporary restriction in light of the emergent circumstances surrounding the conduct of the NEET-UG re-examinations.
It further found that the procedure prescribed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, had been duly followed.
The Court also upheld the validity of the government's blocking orders, finding them to be reasoned and legally sustainable.
"The orders do not suffer from non-application of mind. We have also held that under IT Act, there is no reason to exclude the platform from the ambit of 'information'," the Court added.
The Centre had ordered the temporary ban on Telegram citing concerns that organised cheating networks linked to the NEET-UG controversy had used the platform to facilitate malpractice.
The move came after the original NEET examination was cancelled amid allegations of widespread paper leaks and other irregularities. The NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination will be conducted on June 21.
Acting under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) directed internet service providers to restrict access to Telegram in India until June 22. The Ministry also instructed the platform to disable the message-editing feature for already-posted messages until June 30.
In addition, the government directed Google and Apple to remove Telegram from their respective app stores during the period of the restriction.