The Delhi High Court has upheld the Centre's decision to temporarily suspend Telegram services across India ahead of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination. According to a report by news agency IANS, the court stated that the government had followed the legal process while invoking emergency powers under the Information Technology Act.
Rejecting Telegram's challenge to the restrictions, Justice Tejas Karia ruled that the government's action met the test of proportionality and was necessary to prevent misuse of the platform for examination-related fraud ahead of the nationwide medical entrance test.
"After considering all arguments, we found that given the emergency nature of impugned orders, respondents (authorities) strictly followed the procedure," the court said. Justice Karia also noted that the restrictions met legal requirements. "We have also held that the test of proportionality is satisfied as requirements, namely legitimate objective, nexus of action with the measure adopted, necessity of the measure are met and least restrictive measures have been adopted," he added, as quoted in the IANS report.
Telegram Challenged the Temporary Ban in India
Telegram approached the Delhi High Court after the Centre ordered a temporary suspension of its services across India until June 22. The government also directed the platform to disable its message-editing feature until June 30. These restrictions were imposed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA).
Why Government Restricted Telegram Features in India
According to the IANS report, the Centre argued that Telegram had repeatedly been used for examination-related scams and question paper leaks. The government told the court that it had exhausted other options before imposing platform-wide restrictions. In its affidavit, the Centre stated that requests for targeted content takedowns were not effective enough to stop the spread of unlawful material. The government claimed that several Telegram channels were allegedly involved in selling purported NEET question papers and running exam-related scams. Additionally, the government highlighted that Telegram's anonymity features, automated bots, forwarding tools, and cloud-based architecture made enforcement actions more difficult.
The temporary restrictions come ahead of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21. More than 22 lakh candidates are expected to appear for the test.
