Telegram Ban Ahead of Re-NEET: Will Delhi High Court Uphold or Revoke Centre's Decision

The Delhi High Court is all set to pronounce its verdict in Telegram's plea challenging the Central government order banning the platform temporarily ahead of the June 21 NEET-UG 2026 re-examination. The Court on Thursday ahd questioned Centre’s decision to temporarily restrict access to Telegram, saying how the rights of 150 million users of the messaging app can be curtailed just because a few of them are taking up the test. The verdict was reserved by a vacation bench of Justice Tejas Karia. Justice Karia reserved the verdict after hearing extensive arguments from senior advocate Dhruv Mehta, appearing for the app, and Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who represented the Centre.While reserving the verdict,

the judge had asked the counsel for both parties to file their written submissions, if any, by 7 pm on the day.

Telegram Ban: What Happened in Delhi High Court

The Centre vehemently argued before the Delhi High Court that Telegram has all the potential of getting misused by miscreants. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta referred to the technical aspects of the messaging app and said that a single Telegram account can create up to 40 bots.

https://youtu.be/wgqEku4GcVQ?si=COH36DidQinESnr_

Mehta also mentioned that the report indicated that Telegram is frequently used for terrorist activities and that law enforcement agencies face challenges due to this architectural design in various jurisdictions."How can we stop the rights of 150 million people just because one set of citizens are appearing in examinations... The question is can you block somebody else's rights to protect someone else's rights. The law has been laid down in the Anuradha Bhasin case (judgement)," the bench asked.

Why Centre Restricted Access To Telegram

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), acting on recommendations of the National Testing Agency (NTA), issued a direction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricting access to the Telegram platform in India till June 22, covering the day of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination and its immediate aftermath.The ministry has also directed the platform to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30.On May 12, the (NTA) had cancelled the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG, held on May 3 for medical admissions amid allegations of paper leak. The matter is currently under investigation by the CBI.