Telegram moves Delhi High Court against temporary ban ahead of NEET-UG re-examination
Telegram has moved the Delhi High Court against the Centre's temporary access curbs before the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination. The government says the restrictions are aimed at stopping cheating networks and fabricated paper leak claims.
- Jun 17, 2026,
- Updated Jun 17, 2026, 2:32 PM IST
- Vacation bench of Justice Tejas Karia agreed to hear the plea urgently
- Telegram told the court the order affected over 150 million users nationwide
- MeitY issued the restriction under Section 69A of the IT Act
Messaging platform Telegram has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the Centre's decision to temporarily restrict access to the app ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21.
The matter was mentioned before a vacation bench of Justice Tejas Karia on Wednesday, which agreed to hear the plea on an urgent basis.
Appearing for Telegram, counsel informed the court that the government's action had impacted more than 150 million users across India.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), acting on recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA), issued an order under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, directing a temporary restriction on access to Telegram in India. The restriction will remain in force until June 22, covering the day of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination and the immediate period thereafter.
In addition to the temporary access restriction, the government has directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30. According to the NTA, the measure targets a specific platform feature that has allegedly been misused to create fabricated "paper leak" evidence after examinations have taken place.
Defending the move, the NTA stated that both actions were taken in the interest of public order and to prevent organised cheating networks from exploiting the platform during the national-level medical entrance examination.
"Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled on June 21," the agency said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
