Why Supreme Court dismissed lawyer's PIL against UGC NET cancellation

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by a lawyer challenging the cancellation of the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) that was earlier scheduled to be held in June by the National Testing Agency (NTA). .A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra dismissed the plea after noting that it was filed by a lawyer and not a candidate who was personally affected by the cancellation of the June exam. "What is your locus? Are you appearing for UGC NET? You are a member of the Bar! ... Occupy your time with some substantive matter. Not file a plea just after reading something in newspapers," CJI Chandrachud observed when the plea was taken up today. "I have representations from hundreds of students who are affected," the petitioner's counsel replied.The Court, however, was not impressed. "Of course, let them come. Not you," the CJI retorted. The Court made it clear that its dismissal of the plea would not prevent any candidate affected by the cancellation of exam from seeking relief. "While dismissing the plea, we note that we have not foreclosed the right of any affected candidate to approach the Court. Dismissed," the Bench said. .The UGC-NET determines the eligibility of candidates to pursue research opportunities, including Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Senior Research Fellowship (SRF), which is crucial to pursuing doctoral programmes in India. The exam, which is held by the NTA, was earlier scheduled to be conducted in June this year. However, it was cancelled shortly before it was slated to start, reportedly after certain intelligence inputs indicated that the exam paper was leaked. The UGC-NET has now been rescheduled to be held in August. The development took place shortly after controversy erupted over irregularities apparent in the conduct of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate medical college admissions, which is also organised by the NTA.The Supreme Court had recently declined to order any reexamination for NEET undergraduate exam. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is still probing the NEET case.