NEW DELHI, June 20 -- The Delhi high court on Friday upheld the government's decision to block instant messaging service Telegram for six days ahead of Sunday's National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) re-exam. The court said there were sufficient reasons to arrive at the decision to protect the interests of millions of students appearing for the exam. A single-judge bench of Justice Tejas Karia framed the case around two questions: whether the government's order was vitiated by non-application of mind, and whether blocking the platform satisfied the test of proportionality - a question that itself turned on a more fundamental issue of statutory interpretation: does Section 69A of the IT Act empower the government to block an entire platform, or only specific pieces of content? The court ruled against Telegram on both counts. "The platform architecture of Telegram is conducive to amplification and mass dissemination of content, enabling information to reach a substantial number of users within a short span of time," the court said. P9...