Delhi High Court Upholds Government's Temporary Ban On Telegram Ahead of Re-NEET: 'Least Restrictive'

The Delhi High Court on Friday, June 19, pronounced 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 Delhi High Court upheld the Centre’s powers under Section 69A of the IT Act to block platforms like Telegram, observing that such action would not be disproportionate if carried out in accordance with the law. The court also dismissed Telegram's petition challenging potential restrictions. "Government's order is well founded. A platform can be banned under Section 69A of the IT Act," Justice Tejas Karia ruled. "After considering all the arguments, we find that given the emergency nature, the reasons supplied are sufficient and the government has

followed the procedure under Section 69A," the Court held while upholding the Centre's action."The orders are well-founded and supported by reasons. The orders do not suffer from non-application of mind," Justice Karia observed. "The government's measures are least restrictive. It cannot be held that the order is disproportionate," the Court said.The Court on Thursday had 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.

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.