This Education Law July 2025 roundup explores various important cases, such as Supreme Court’s Comprehensive Guidelines on protecting mental health of young students, power outage during NEET UG 2025, IELTS Scam, UGC Anti Ragging Regulations, Ragging, and much more.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH
CBSE introduces Real-Time CCTV Guidelines for safer school environments
The Central Board of Secondary Education (‘CBSE’) issued a notification amending the Affiliation Bye-Laws, 2018, mandating the installation of high-resolution CCTV cameras with real-time audio-visual recording across school premises in order to foster a safer, more secure learning environment by enhancing vigilance through advanced surveillance technologies. Read more HERE
SUPREME COURT | Comprehensive Guidelines on protecting mental health of young students in coaching centres and colleges, issued
While considering this appeal challenging Andhra Pradesh High Court’s decision to not transfer the investigation on the appellant’s 17-year-old daughter’s tragic death to the CBI; the Division Bench of Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta*, JJ., reflecting upon the underlying societal issue of growing crisis of student suicides in the context of contemporary education, issued 15 Guidelines for preventive, remedial, and supportive framework for mental health protection and prevention of suicides by students across all educational institutions. The Court clarified that the Guidelines shall apply to all educational institutions across India, including public and private schools, colleges, universities, training centres, coaching institutes, residential academies, and hostels, irrespective of their affiliation. It was also clarified that these guidelines are not in supersession but in parallel to the ongoing work of the National Task Force on Mental Health Concerns of Students and are being issued to provide an interim protective architecture in the interregnum. Read more HERE
ADMISSION
BOMBAY HIGH COURT | Technical glitch can’t derail merit-based admission; DCI order discharging MDS student, discharged
The present writ petition was initiated by astudent and a Dental College where she was admitted, challenging two impugned communications issued by the Dental Council of India (‘DCI’) that sought to discharge her from the MDS course on the ground of irregular admission.The Division Bench of Manish Pitale* and Y. G. Khobragade, JJ., held that the admission of the student, secured on merits through NEET-MDS 2024 counselling, could not be invalidated due to technical issues in uploading documents caused by low connectivity from heavy rainfall in the rural area where the Dental College was located. The Court quashed the DCI’s impugned communications and held that neither the student nor the Dental College was at fault. Read more HERE
DELHI HIGH COURT | GD Goenka school directed to re-admit child with mild autism; highlighted inclusivity in educational institutions
In a writ petition filed against GD Goenka school for re-admission of a child with mild autism, a Single Judge bench of Vikas Mahajan, J*, opined that the statutory obligations under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (‘RPwD Act’) are enforceable duties which are meant to ensure full and effective participation of children with disabilities in all walks of life, particularly in education. The Court also directed GD Goenka to re-admit the petitioner, who was suffering from mild autism, in Class I or any age-appropriate class. Read more HERE
EXAMS
MADRAS HIGH COURT | No Re-NEET UG 2025: Appeal for re-exam over power outage at Chennai centres, dismissed
In an intra-court appeal filed by medical aspirants against the order dated 06-06-2025, wherein their plea for a re-examination of NEET UG 2025 due to power outage was dismissed, the Division Bench of Nisha Banu and M. Jothiraman*, JJ. held that the Court could not exercise appellate jurisdiction over the National Testing Agency’s (‘NTA’) considered decision, which was based on field-level verification and expert statistical analysis, unless it was shown to be manifestly arbitrary, mala fide, or illegal. As no such grounds were established, the Court found no reason to interfere with the impugned order, and accordingly, the writ appeal was dismissed for lack of merit. Read more HERE
RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT | ‘Exam Question on Ayodhya Judgment does not hurt religious sentiments’: Academic freedom, upheld
In a civil writ petition filed by the petitioner, seeking directions to investigate and remove biased and inflammatory content from an examination question paper concerning the Ayodhya judgment, a Single-Judge Bench of Anoop Kumar Dhand, J., dismissed the writ petition holding that a challenge to a question paper solely on the ground of hurting religious sentiments under Section 295-A of the Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’) is not legally sustainable unless deliberate and malicious intent to outrage religious feelings is established. The Court further noted that academic freedom and the autonomy of educational institutions should not be curtailed merely based on subjective language, provided there is no clear breach of law or contemptuous, offensive, or defamatory language. Read more HERE
MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT | No Re-NEET UG 2025: Direction of re-exam due to power outage in some centres, set aside
In a batch of writ appeals filed by the National Testing Agency (‘NTA’) and medical students against the previous order passed by the Single Judge Bench concerning the power outage during the NEET Undergraduate (UG) Examination, 2025 (‘the exam’), the Division Bench of Vivek Rusia* and Binod Kumar Dwivedi, JJ., allowed the appeals filed by the NTS holding that the present case was not fit for re-examination. Read more HERE
GUJARAT HIGH COURT | Inside IELTS Scam: Magistrate Court directed to decide afresh on Police Summary Report
In a revision application filed against the order of the Sessions Court, which had set aside the decision of the Chief Judicial Magistrate allowing the summary report submitted by the Deputy Superintendent of Police regarding alleged illegal qualifications obtained in the International English Language Testing System (I.E.L.T.S.) examination, the Single Judge Bench of L.S. Pirzada, J., partly allowed the present revision application. The Court confirmed the order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, whereby the summary report order was set aside, and the matter was remitted to the Court of the Judicial Magistrate, Mehsana, for a fresh decision. However, the Court quashed and set aside the direction issued by the Sessions Court to the Chief Judicial Magistrate to forward the case to the Director General of Police for appointing an “honest and competent” police officer of the rank of P.I. or Dy.S.P. for further investigation. The Court held that no court has the authority to issue such a direction and further instructed the Chief Judicial Magistrate to decide the summary report afresh, uninfluenced by the previous observations. Read more HERE
DELHI HIGH COURT | CUET-PG answer key challenge partially allowed; Directed NTA to award marks for ambiguous Psychology Question
In a petition instituted by several aspirants who had appeared for the CUET (PG)-2025 examination in Psychology (Paper Code: HUQP20), challenging the correctness of the final answer key published by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in respect of two specific questions, bearing Question IDs: 3016983411 and 3016983415, Vikas Mahajan, J., upheld the final answer of “Proximity” for Question ID 3016983411, rejecting the petitioners’ claim. However, for Question ID 3016983415, the Court accepted that both “Kinesthetic sense” and “Vestibular senses” were valid answers and directed NTA to award five additional marks to eligible petitioners who had selected Option 1 and filed objections within time. Read more HERE
RAGGING
KERALA HIGH COURT | ‘UGC Anti Ragging Regulations not enough to curb ragging in its entirety’ State urged to enact stringent law with severe punishment
In two writ petitions arising from the tragic death of a 21-year-old student, who had been subjected to physical abuse and a public trial, amounting to ragging, the Single Judge Bench of D.K. Singh, J. expressed grave concern over the ineffectiveness of the UGC Anti-ragging Regulations. Despite being stringent, these regulations failed to deter unruly student behavior. The Court, therefore, recommended that the State enact a more stringent law, prescribing severe punishments for ragging activities in educational institutions. This law would be aimed at curbing the menace of ragging and preventing further loss of life caused by the rowdy conduct of undisciplined students. The State was urged to ensure that the guilty parties faced appropriate punishment. The Court also directed that the University must proceed with departmental proceedings against the Dean and the Assistant warden (petitioners) and complete them expeditiously, ideally within three months. Additionally, the Court emphasised the necessity for the University to take appropriate action against the students responsible for the death of the deceased, ensuring that those responsible are held accountable for the tragic incident. Read more HERE
