A petition that was filed 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, has been dismissed by the Delhi High Court, as per PTI reports.
The high court said that it will not interfere in the matter as the results of the examinations have already been declared and the counselling is likely to commence soon.
CUET exam is a common gateway for undergraduate admissions in all central universities and is now the second-largest entrance examination in the country.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav of the Delhi High Court was of the opinion that the court is unable to find any merit in interfering in the matter and that too, at this stage, when the results 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," he said.
The high court passed the order in relation to a petition that sought to direct the National Testing Agency (NTA) to hold a retest of the CUET (UG) 2023 for the petitioner, on account of her inability to appear for the exam for the Psychology subject that was conducted on June 15.
The petitioner's counsel said that the candidate was keen on pursuing graduation in Psychology subject and had filled up the form for CUET (UG)-2023.
Misinformation
The counsel said that NTA (National Testing Agency) had specifically announced that the admit cards will be released three days before the examination. The counsel said this in accordance with the public notice, dated April 30, 2023.
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.
But the admit card to the exam was sent to her a day before the exam on June 14, when she was vacationing abroad. The lawyer also added that 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 in response to this said that the 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, making her ineligible to appear for the buffer examination.
The counsel also said that the grievances of individual candidates cannot be redressed when the public interest at large is of paramount importance and the individual interest cannot supersede the larger public interest. Hence, the girl cannot be accorded a special examination.
