New Delhi, June 19: The Delhi High Court will announce its decision on Friday regarding a petition filed by the messaging platform Telegram. This petition challenges the central government‘s decision to temporarily suspend its services across India ahead of the re-examination for NEET (UG) 2026, scheduled for June 21.
Judge Tejas Karia’s single-judge bench reserved its decision after hearing arguments from both Telegram and the central government on Thursday. According to the Delhi High Court’s website, the ruling will be delivered at 10:30 AM on Friday.
The petition questions the restrictions imposed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and directives issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Telegram is contesting the government’s decision to temporarily halt its services until June 22 and to disable its message-editing feature until June 30. The platform argues that these restrictions are excessive and adversely affect millions of users.
In defense, the central government informed the Delhi High Court that it had no alternative but to exercise emergency blocking powers under the Information Technology Act due to the repeated misuse of Telegram’s architecture in connection with examination-related fraud cases.
In an affidavit filed through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the government stated that the decision was made only after exhausting all other options, including repeated requests to remove illegal content, which were found to be inadequate.
According to the government, the NTA identified several Telegram channels allegedly involved in selling NEET question papers and participating in examination-related scams. These identified channels, groups, and bots had a total reach of approximately 146,000 accounts and were openly soliciting money from candidates in exchange for access to exam papers.
The central government emphasized that its “primary priority” is to ensure the integrity and sanctity of the re-examination, which is being conducted for over 2.2 million candidates.
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