The Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Center on Telegram’s plea for a temporary ban ahead of the NEET exam
Justice Tejas Karia directed the government to submit its reply by Thursday (June 18, 2026) and the matter will be heard at 2.30 pm. | Photo credit: The Hindu
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (June 17, 2026) issued a notice to the Union government on a petition filed by messaging app Telegram against the Centre’s decision to suspend access to its services in India till June 22, citing concerns over the conduct of the NEET-UG examination.
Justice Tejas Karia ordered the government to submit its reply by Thursday (June 18, 2026) and that the matter would be heard at 2.30 pm.
The matter stems from the Centre’s temporary suspension of Telegram amid concerns that organized cheating networks involved in the NEET-UG controversy are using the messaging app to send out leaked or fabricated question papers and coordinate fraudulent activities.
The restrictions were issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act and will remain in place until June 22. A separate directive also requires Telegram to prohibit editing of previously sent messages until June 30.
The government has defended the measures necessary to ensure the integrity of the NEET-UG re-examination scheduled for June 21, alleging that Telegram’s features could be misused to spread misleading content and manipulate message timestamps.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, alleged that several channels on the platform were allegedly being used to offer leaked investigative questions in exchange for money. He added that authorities have repeatedly raised these concerns with the company and shared specific examples, but problems persist.
The attorney general said the app had become a conduit for investigative misconduct and said, “If you give me until 8 a.m. tomorrow morning, I will present shocking things to the court.”
Senior advocate Dhruv Mehta, appearing for Telegram, questioned the legality of the blocking order issued by the Centre, arguing that it reflected a lack of consideration of the company’s responses and actions. He told the court that discussions between the platform and government agencies had been ongoing since early June and that Telegram had acted on the basis of lists of inappropriate channels provided by the authorities.
“We have removed all of the content that you pointed out and that we also found inappropriate,” he said, adding that the company was cooperative throughout the process.
In its petition, the company said it removed more than 900 links associated with illegal NEET-related material and relied on artificial intelligence tools, machine learning systems and human moderators to detect and remove violations.
It argued that the government’s action was discriminatory because other social media intermediaries continued to operate without similar restrictions. The company argued that holding an entire platform responsible for the behavior of a subset of users violates constitutional guarantees, including the right to free speech and access to information.
“Our app is used by students who regularly get study materials through it. Teachers use our platform for teaching. It is used for commercial purposes and even several other things. It is curtailing the fundamental rights of those using our app,” said Mr. Mehta.
After hearing both sides, the court noted that any digital platform could potentially be misused and asked the government to clarify the extent and scope of the alleged illegal activity taking place on Telegram.
Published – 17 Jun 2026 21:08 IST