New Delhi: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has allowed an aspiring student to apply for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) after deadline, because the student was encouraged by a deadline extension tweet from Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal for JEE (Main) Applicants. The court has allowed the student to take advantage of this tweet, though it may not have been an official announcement.
The division bench of Justices Rajan Gupta and Karamjit Singh was considering the grievance of a student who did not apply for NEET 2020 because he had got admission to a school overseas.
The student, in his petition, stated that his classes (abroad) were scheduled to commence in September. However, because of the pandemic, which sealed many international borders, he had to give up his plan of going abroad for his studies. While he was contemplating his next move he came across this tweet by the minister talking about the deadline extension for this year’s the JEE (Primary) Examination.
The Division Bench opined that the Petitioner had a “legitimate expectation” of a similar opportunity being provided to those hoping to take the NEET as well.
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The bench observed:
“Under normal circumstances, we would not have taken the tweet into consideration, but it is being noticed that tweets by the official authorities have now started occupying the importance of official declarations. We are not aware whether such declarations are backed by any official files in which the entire issue is dealt with.”
The Court directed the respondent authorities to accept the student’s application and accompanying documents.
Abhay-Mohan-v-Union-of-India-and-others-Interim-Order– India Legal Bureau