Delhi HC Upholds Centre's Temporary Telegram Ban Ahead of NEET-UG Re-Exam
Delhi HC upholds Centre's temporary Telegram ban ahead of NEET-UG re-exam, calling the Section 69A order "not disproportionate."
Verdicto News Desk 
The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld the Centre's order temporarily restricting access to Telegram in India ahead of the June 21 NEET-UG re-exam, ruling that the move was "not disproportionate" and well within the government's powers under Section 69A of the IT Act.
A vacation bench of Justice Tejas Karia, pronouncing the operative part of the verdict, held that given the emergency nature of the situation, the reasons furnished by the Centre were sufficient and due procedure had been followed. The court rejected Telegram's claim that it had not been supplied with reasons for the block, observing that the government's order was "well-founded and supported by reasons" and did not suffer from non-application of mind.
"The test of proportionality is satisfied. The government's measures are the least restrictive. It cannot be held that the order is disproportionate," Justice Karia said.
Telegram had challenged the ban, alleging discriminatory treatment and a violation of Article 14 for being singled out among intermediaries. The platform told the court it had taken down over 900 links linked to unlawful NEET content, deployed AI and manual moderation tools, held regular meetings with government agencies since May, and removed flagged URLs within an hour of receiving them on June 9.
During Thursday's hearing, the bench had questioned the Solicitor General on the rationale for restricting access for over 150 million Telegram users in India over an issue concerning one set of examinees.
The controversy follows the NTA's cancellation of NEET-UG, held on May 3, after paper-leak allegations; the matter is now under CBI investigation, with the re-test scheduled for June 21.
MeitY, acting on NTA's recommendation, had on June 16 ordered Telegram's access restricted till June 22 — covering the re-exam and its immediate aftermath. A separate directive bars Telegram from allowing message-editing on previously posted content till June 30, aimed at preventing fabrication of after-the-fact "paper leak" evidence.
