In a landmark decision, the Madhya Pradesh High Court (HC) has granted interim relief to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) candidates, allowing them to apply for the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2025 with age relaxation benefits similar to those provided to Other Backward Classes (OBC).
The ruling comes in response to a writ petition challenging the exclusion of EWS candidates from age and attempt relaxations in Central government recruitments, a long-standing issue that has impacted thousands of aspirants.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain issued the interim order, directing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to accept applications from EWS candidates without enforcing the current age limit, for a period of seven days.
However, the court has specified that appointment orders for these candidates will not be issued without further orders from the court.
Legal challenge
The petitioners contested the Department of Personnel and Training’s (DoPT) Office Memorandum (OM) dated October 21, 2019, and its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs0 issued on September 19, 2022, which explicitly state that EWS candidates are not entitled to age or attempt relaxations. This, they argued, is discriminatory, as Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and women are granted such relaxations.
The petitioners further pointed out that EWS reservation includes not only individuals from the general category but also approximately 671 OBC communities that are recognised in state lists but not in the central OBC list. These communities, while eligible for EWS benefits, face a disproportionate disadvantage due to the lack of age relaxation.
Given the urgency —the deadline for UPSC CSE 2025 applications is February 18 — the court intervened to prevent immediate harm to affected candidates.
The case was argued by a team of senior lawyers led by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, with assistance from Advocates Kartik Jaggi, Manisha Singh, George Pothan Poothicote, Dr Monika Singhal, Abhishek Gautam, and Sagar.
Background
The 10% EWS reservation was introduced in 2019 through the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, providing benefits to economically disadvantaged individuals who do not belong to SC, ST, or OBC categories.
However, unlike other reserved categories, EWS candidates do not receive age relaxation or additional attempts in UPSC and other Central government exams.
This policy gap has led to significant protests and legal challenges, as thousands of EWS candidates, particularly those from weaker socio-economic backgrounds, find themselves unable to compete on equal footing.
Since April 2019, several political leaders — including the then Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot — have urged the DoPT to introduce age relaxation for EWS candidates. Multiple state governments (including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Jammu & Kashmir) have already granted EWS candidates age relaxation in state-level recruitments.
Despite this, the Central government has not implemented a similar policy for UPSC and other national-level exams.
What’s next?
With the UPSC CSE 2025 application deadline on February 18, the immediate concern for candidates is to submit their applications within the next seven days as per the court’s directive.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on the government’s response and the final verdict of the high court, which could determine whether EWS candidates will receive permanent age relaxation in future recruitments.
For now, EWS candidates have been given a crucial opportunity to apply for UPSC CSE 2025, but their final eligibility will depend on further court proceedings. The case is set to be heard again in two weeks, along with other related petitions.
