No extra attempt or age relaxation in UPSC: Union Minister Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh stated that the government did not find it feasible to change the existing provisions regarding the number of attempts and the age limit in the Civil Services Examination. He stated this on July 20, after the issue was taken to the Supreme Court recently.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, the MInister said, "Based on the judgements passed by Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, the matter was considered and it has not been found feasible to change the existing provisions regarding the number of attempts and age-limit in respect of the civil services examination," as per a PTI report. "However, the recruitment cycle of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) was delayed due to COVID-19. Therefore, for the examinations being advertised in 2022, the SSC has decided to fix the crucial date for determining age as of January 1, 2022," he added. 

The Minister also informed, "The issue of granting age relaxation and an extra attempt to candidates for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) due to COVID-19 was brought before the Supreme Court of India vide writ petitions by the aspirants," according to PTI. "In the normal course, the crucial date for determining age for these examinations would have been August 1, 2022, or January 1, 2023, depending on the schedule of the conduct of tier-II examinations," Minister Singh added.

Not very long ago, parents and students had taken to Twitter demanding an extra attempt in the Civil Services Exam. The #UPSCExtraAttempt and #EXTRAATTEMPT4ALL hashtags were trending on the micro-blogging platform. The demands stemmed from the hardships faced by UPSC aspirants due to COVID-19 and the floods this year.