The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to grant immediate relief to Telegram after the Centre temporarily restricted access to the messaging platform ahead of the June 21 NEET-UG 2026 re-examination.
During the proceedings, the Centre informed the court that a final order regarding Telegram is expected by Wednesday night.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, sought time until Thursday morning to file a reply to Telegram's challenge against the interim order.
Appearing for the Central government, Mehta submitted at the outset, "This is order under Section 69A (of the IT Act). The post decisional hearing happened today and order is likely to be passed today. Secondly, I need to put in my reply. I will do it tomorrow 8 AM," reported Bar and Bench.
Explaining how paper leaks were being facilitated through Telegram, the SG said, "I have to show individual information, individual user ids. They were repeatedly called and told that these are issues and you correct your system. But they failed to do it. I have given examples and shared with them. There are many channels. What is being projected and what is being circulated is that if you give me this much amount, I will give you 5 questions. This is continuous."
Pressing for the matter to be heard on 18 June, the SG said, "Overnight nothing is going to happen. If my lords keep it tomorrow, there is something shocking that I will show," reported Bar and Bench.
Appearing for Telegram, Senior advocate Dhruv Mehta informed the court that more than 150 million users had been affected by the government’s action. The platform argued that the blocking order was arbitrary and lacked adequate reasons.
“There are 150 million users in the country. You block everything. Article 14 is completely violated," the counsel said.
"All content and channels that were requested by the government have been removed," Telegram's counsel told the court.
SG Mehta then claimed that the government has substantial material.
“We have been dealing with them since May. We’ve not said anything yet," the Centre told the court, indicating that concerns regarding the platform had been under examination for several weeks.
The platform has challenged the interim restrictions, seeking urgent relief from the High Court. Opposing immediate relief, the Centre highlighted concerns over alleged unlawful activities on the platform.
The government temporarily banned the messaging platform, citing concerns that it had been used by organised cheating networks involved in the NEET-UG controversy. The decision followed the cancellation of the original NEET examination after allegations of widespread paper leaks and irregularities.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) issued a direction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricting access to the Telegram platform in India till June 22.
Another order was issued directing the platform to disable, till June 30, the message-editing feature for messages already posted.
The government has described the measure as necessary to protect the integrity of the re-examination scheduled for 21 June. Authorities argued that Telegram channels were being used to distribute leaked or fake question papers, coordinate fraud and manipulate message timestamps through the platform’s editing feature.