1 2025:CGHC:12505-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 1323 of 2025 Ritin Aarsh Kujur S/o Shri K.V. Kujur Aged About 23 Years R/o Qtr. No. 5/17, Sector 9, Bhilai, Durg, Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - University Grants Commission Through Secretary, University Grants Commission (Ugc) Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 2 - National Testing Agency Through Director (Exams) Nta First Floor, Nsic-Mdbp Building, Okhla Industrial Estate, New Delhi ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner(s) : Ms. Smriti Ekka, Advocate For Respondent(s) : Mr. Jitendra Nath Nande, Advocate Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, Judge Judgment on Board Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice 17.03.2025 1. The present petition has been filed seeking following relief(s):- “10.1 Issue appropriate writ/order/direction to the MANPREET KAUR Digitally signed by MANPREET KAUR Date: 2025.03.18 10:50:01 +0530 2 Respondent(s) to issue a refund of the exam fees paid by the Petitioner for the UGC NET December 2024 exam and to further compensate the Petitioner for the loss of opportunity (higher education/employment) and hardship (mental, distress, financial, travel expenses etc.) caused by the arbitrary and irrational action of the Respondent No. 2/ΝΤΑ. 10.2 Issue appropriate writ/order/direction to the Respondents to formulate appropriate guidelines/policy regarding relief to aggrieved candidates in the event of cancellation and/or rescheduling of UGC NET exam, especially guidelines for refund and/or compensation in case of cancellation or rescheduling of exams (if exam is cancelled on the ground of a foreseeable circumstance); as well as formulate appropriate guidelines to allow the candidates to change/reselect the exam center city in case of postponement of the exam; and guidelines on any other related matter which the Hon'ble Court may deem fit, in the interest of justice. 10.3. Issue appropriate writ/order/direction to the Respondent No. 2 to enhance the grievance redressal system already in place by constituting a body/organ dedicated exclusively towards redressal of the grievance of the candidates for the timely and effective resolution of the issues. 10.4. Any other relief(s) that the Hon'ble Court may deem fit in the facts and circumstances of the case, in the interest of justice 3 2. (a). The facts as projected by the petitioner are that the petitioner is aggrieved by the arbitrary, unreasonable and irrational decision of the Respondent No. 2/NTA vide impugned public notice dated 13.01.2025. The Petitioner was a registered applicant for the UGC-NET December 2024 exam and therefore has the locus standi to file this petition. (b). The Respondent No. 2/National Testing Agency has been entrusted by the Respondent No. 1/University Grants Commission with the task of conducting UGC-NET (University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test), which is a Test to determine the eligibility of Indian nationals for 'Assistant Professor' as well as 'Junior Research Fellowship and Assistant Professor' in Indian Universities and Colleges. The UGC-NET is being conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in Computer Based Test (CBT) mode since December 2018 for a diverse choice of subjects. The UGC NET exam is conducted in approximately 284 cities. The UGC NET December 2024 exam was conducted for 85 subjects. (c). On 19.11.2024 the Respondent No. 2/NTA published a public notice regarding opening of the online portal for submission of Online Application Form for UG-NET December 2024 for 85 subjects in Computer Based Test (CBT) mode. Thereafter, the Respondent No. 2/NTA published another public notice dated 19.12.2024 regarding subject-wise examination schedule of UGC- NET December 2024. (d). As per this exam schedule, the exams for different subjects 4 were to be conducted between 03.01.2025 to 16.10.2025. As per this exam schedule, the exam for the "law" subject was to be conducted on the 15.01.2025. The Respondent No. 2/NTA published another public notice dated 24.12.2024 regarding Advance Intimation for allotment of examination city to the applicants of UGC-NET December 2024. The candidates were informed about the exam city merely 22 days before the exam on 15.01.2025 and merely 10 days before the commencement of UGC NET December 2024 exam from 03.01.2025. Subsequently, the Respondent No. 2/NTA issued another public notice dated 28.12.2024 intimating the applicants about release of Admit Card for UGC-NET December 2024. (e). The Petitioner is pursuing a Master's degree in Law at National Academy of Legal Studies and Research, Hyderabad. The Petitioner had registered for the UGC NET December 2024 exam. The Petitioner was allotted 'Bhilai Nagar' (Chhattisgarh) as his exam center city and so he made necessary arrangements (travel, classes/work, other personal commitments etc.) according to the exam schedule provided by the Respondent No. 2/NTA vide public notice dated 19.12.2024. (f). Merely two days before the exam, the Respondent No. 2/NTA published the impugned public notice on 13.01.2025 intimating the students about postponement of the UGC-NET December 2024 examination scheduled on 15.01.2025 citing the reason that the National Testing Agency received representation to postpone the 5 UGC-NET December 2024 examination on account of Pongal, Makar Sankranti and other festivals on 15.01.2025. Considering the interest of the aspirants, Respondent No. 2/NTA decided to postpone the exam to a later date. Whereas, all the other exams including the exam scheduled for 14.01.2025 and 16.01.2025 were conducted as per the original exam schedule, despite falling on the date of the said regional festivals of Makar Sankranti (14.01.2025) and Pongal (14.01.2025 to 17.01.2025). (g). Being aggrieved by the impugned public notice dated 13.01.2025, the Petitioner filed a compliant before the Respondents on 13.01.2025 through an e-mail addressed to the official e-mail ID provided by the Respondents (ugcnet@nta.ac.in). However, the Petitioner did not receive any response. The Petitioner raised his grievances regarding the postponement of the exam at the last minute for a reason which was firstly, foreseeable and therefore, avoidable, and secondly, against the legitimate expectation of the applicants/stakeholders that an exam conducted at the national level (pan-India) will not be cancelled/postponed due to regional festivals once the exam schedule is published. Further, the Petitioner sought an opportunity to change/re-select the exam city owing to the change in circumstances due to the impugned public notice, as well as compensation for the hardships and loss caused by the decision of the Respondent No. 2/NTA. The Respondent No. 2/NTA intimated the candidates about the new dates for the postponed exam vide 6 public notice dated 14.01.2025. (h). As per this notice, the fresh dates for the exam were 21.02.2025 and 27.01.2025, respectively. Thereafter, the Respondent No. 2/NTA released fresh Admit Cards for the rescheduled exam for 21.02.2025 and 27.01.2025 and intimated about the same vide public notice dated 18.01.2025. The said UGC NET exam scheduled for the 15.01.2025 was conducted as per the new schedule i.e. on 21.02.2025 and 27.01.2025, respectively. (I). The Respondents have taken an arbitrary, unreasonable and irrational decision by rescheduling the exam (on 15.01.2025) at the last minute, just two days prior to the date of exam, on grounds of an entirely foreseeable event. Hence, this writ petition. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the action of the Respondent No. 2/NTA whereby the Respondent No. 2/NTA postponed the exam originally scheduled for 15.01.2025 to 21.02.2025 and 27.01.2025, respectively vide the impugned public notice dated 13.01.2025, is arbitrary, unreasonable, and irrational. The Respondent No.2/NTA failed to intimate the candidates about postponements within reasonable time. Additionally, the UGC-NET December 2024 exam which is conducted on the national level, ought not to have been postponed at the very last minute on account of regional festivals (Pongal, Makar Sankranti, etc.), because, the Respondents ought to have anticipated the same and considered such reasoning 7 (festivals) at the first instance itself i.e. at the time of preparation of the examination schedule, as the date of the festivals was a foreseeable event. The present case is not the first instance wherein the Respondent No. 2/NTA has postponed an exam on account of a festival after publishing the exam schedule. In an earlier occasion, just last year, the Respondent No. 2/NTA had published a public notice dated 13.08.2024 whereby the UGC NET June 2024 exam scheduled for 26.08.2024 was deferred to 27.08.2024 on account of Shri Krishna Janmashtami festival. The dates of the regional festivals of Pongal, Makar Sankranti, etc. were known to the Respondent No. 2/NTA well in advance, and the Respondent No. 2/NTA had been receiving various open letters and representations from eminent public figures immediately after they had published the original exam schedule vide public notice dated 19.12.2024. The Respondent No. 8/NTA failed to take timely action and published the impugned public notice merely 2 days prior to the exam on 15.01.2025 which is manifestly arbitrary and abuse of discretion/authority. The decision of the Respondent No. 2/NTA to postpone the UGC-NET December 2024 exam scheduled for 15.01.2025 at the very last minute is against the legitimate expectation of the applicants/stakeholders that the national level exam will be conducted as per the published exam schedule. The sudden change in the dates of the exam made by the Respondent No. 2/NTA led to a significant change in circumstance and therefore, 8 the Respondent No. 2/NTA ought to have afforded an opportunity to all the aggrieved applicants/candidates to change/reselect the exam center for the new dates. The Petitioner had made all the necessary arrangements to give the exam on 15.01.2025, yet the Petitioner could not appear for the exam owing to the sudden decision to postpone the exam. The loss of educational/employment opportunity caused by the arbitrary action of the Respondent No. 2/NTA is gross violation of the right of the Petitioner guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The Respondent No. 2/NTA has acted in a completely irrational and unreasonable manner and against the interest of the applicants/stakeholders. The Respondent No. 2/NTA failed to weigh the disproportional impact of postponing the exam at such a short notice, and the new dates being very close to the old date, not giving sufficient time to applicants to prepare (travel, accommodation, etc.) for the new dates or by not giving an opportunity to aggrieved applicants to change the exam center city. Further, there is a lack of appropriate guidelines or rules regulating such similar instances, and often the applicants suffer because of arbitrary and last-minute actions of such authorities like in the present case by Respondent No. 2/NTA. There is absolute lack of accountability in this regard. There is a lack of proper redressal mechanism in place as grievances regarding exams are usually time sensitive and urgent in nature; and failure to timely resolve genuine concerns of the candidates is a major 9 lapse in administration. 4. Learned counsel for the respondents opposes the submissions made by learned counsel for the petitioner and submits that due to various regional festivals falling during the said period, the UGC NET exam was postponed from 15.01.2025 to 27.01.2025, which was published by the respondent No.2 vide public notice dated 13.01.2025. Further, as the exams have already been conducted on 27.01.2025, the present petition has become virtually infructuous. 5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and considered the submissions advanced by the respective counsel. 6. Considering the fact that due to regional festivals (Pongal, Makar Sankranti and other festivals), the UGC-NET exam was postponed from 15.01.2025 to 27.01.2025, which was duly published by the respondent No.2 vide public notice dated 13.01.2025. It is not a case that the date of exam has been pre- poned or postponed to a very near date so that the candidates could not make arrangements for reaching the exam centers but on the contrary, the date of exam was changed from 15.01.2025 to 27.01.2025 and there was sufficient time for the candidates to make arrangements for reaching the examination center and to participate in the exam and further the postponement has granted the candidates some more time to prepare their subjects. The said change has been duly notified well in advance and above all, the exam has already been conducted and the intending candidates 10 have participated in the same and as such, at this stage, no relief whatsoever can be granted to the petitioner. The present petition has virtually become infructuous, as such, this petition deserves to be and is accordingly dismissed. Sd/- Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) (Ramesh Sinha) Judge Chief Justice Manpreet