NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the central government to consider the plea by civil service aspirants for an extra attempt in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Mains examination as they could not appear for it in January 2022 due to COVID-related issues, while referring to the Parliamentary Committee Report which recommended grant of relaxations to students affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The court has asked the Union government to consider the requests within two weeks and went on to dispose of the writ petition.
“... Direction to the appropriate authority to reconsider the representations within two weeks. We are not expressing any opinion on it either way of the nature of the conclusion reached,” the top court said.
The central government on Friday had informed the Supreme Court that extra attempts for the mains examinations are not possible. This was conveyed to the court during the course of the hearing on the plea by three civil service aspirants who missed out from giving the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) mains exam because of being Covid-19 positive.
“It has been humbly submitted that after the order dated 22.07.2021… a number of representations were received in the Department of Personnel and Training putting forth the same demand of compensatory/extra attempt referring to the order mentioned dated 22.07.2021 of the hon’ble court. The matter has been considered and it has not been found feasible to change the existing provisions regarding number of attempts and age limit in respect of the CSE,” the central government's counter affidavit had said.
The Union Public Service Commission in an affidavit filed had also opposed the writ petition. UPSC had said that reconducting the examination will completely derail the schedule of post-examination activities and will also have cascading effects on other ongoing examinations.
UPSC also said that the prayers made in the writ petition pertain to the core aspects of the eligibility which are well delineated in the rules framed by DOPT in consultation with UPSC. “In the circumstances, DoPT is also a stakeholder in the process of conduct of civil services exam and consequently, the views and stand of the DoP&T also may be considered in the interest of justice, on the issues raised in the petition,” the affidavit by DoPT had said. It had further said that in order to perform its constitutional obligations to supply manpower to the government in a timely manner to fill the vacancies, it is imperative that the commission follows its schedule of exams which is prepared well in advance.
The petitioners in their writ petition had said that in the absence of any kind of UPSC policy which could provide arrangements for Covid positive aspirants during the span of mains examination or before, it was violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution.