New Delhi, June 23: The messaging platform Telegram is once again available on the Google Play Store as of Tuesday. This follows a temporary ban imposed by the government due to the NEET UG 2026 re-examination.
The government had ordered the National Testing Agency (NTA) to block Telegram from June 16 to June 22. The agency claimed that organized cheating rings were using the platform to mislead and defraud candidates participating in the NEET UG 2026 re-exam held on June 21.
Reports indicate that while the app has returned to the Play Store, the editing message feature will remain disabled until June 30. However, it is still not available on the Apple Play Store.
Last week, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology took precautionary measures by blocking Telegram in India until June 22, ahead of the NEET re-examination.
The NTA stated on Tuesday, “These actions were taken in response to the organized use of the platform by cheating rackets attempting to deceive candidates for the NEET UG 2026 re-exam scheduled for June 21, 2026.”
On Friday, the Delhi High Court upheld the central government‘s decision to temporarily halt Telegram services across India before the NEET UG 2026 re-exam. The court dismissed a petition by Telegram FZ LLC challenging the blocking order, with Justice Tejas Karia’s single-judge bench affirming that the suspension of the messaging platform until June 22 and the disabling of its message-editing feature until June 30 were justified given the circumstances surrounding the nationwide medical entrance exam.
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