Candidates who had exhausted all their chances at writing the Civil Service Examinations can now breathe a sigh of relief. The centre and the UPSC have now agreed to allow relaxation to civil service aspirants who have exhausted all their attempts, on Friday.

This was informed to a Supreme Court bench of justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari while it heard a petition by an aspirant, Rachna Singh. "(This) shall be a one-time relaxation only and shall apply only for those appearing in CSE-2021 and shall not be treated as a precedent," the centre said in a note.

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In January, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju had informed the court that the government and UPSC are actively considering the proposal to give one more opportunity to affected students due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, on January 25, the Department of Personnel and Training filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court submitting that an extra chance would not be provided to the candidates. The matter will be next heard on February 8.

Back in October, disposing of a plea that sought an extra attempt in the UPSC examination in 2021, the Supreme Court asked the competent authorities to assuage the grievance of the petitioners. The petition was filed by 24 UPSC aspirants who were deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, the bench even then consisted of justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari, in addition to Sanjiv Khanna.