The hearts of civil service exam aspirants were shattered as the Supreme Court delivered a crushing blow to their hopes of an extra attempt and age relaxation in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services exam. Despite their earnest plea, the court dismissed the aspirants' plea seeking an extra attempt and age relaxation in the exam, as per a report by Live Law.
Justice Rastogi remarked, “Let government as a matter of policy take a call. But if you want a judicial review, we have to draw a line. When the court has pronounced a judgement, you cannot keep filing petitions. We have to draw a line somewhere." To note, aspirants have been raising the issue for the last two years and the petitioners have sought direction from UPSC to extend them an additional attempt to appear in the exam.
To recall, 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 in March 2022. In the March 24 report, the committee has said that keeping in view the hardships faced by the student community during the first and second waves of Covid-19, it recommends the government change its mind and sympathetically consider the demand for civil services examination (CSE) aspirants and grant an extra attempt with corresponding age relaxation to all candidates.
In the hearing, the Centre told the Supreme Court that it is not feasible to change the existing provisions regarding the number of attempts and age limit regarding the civil services examination. Therefore, the demand for an extra attempt cannot be entertained. Also, in December last year, the aggrieved aspirants staged a protest at Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar.
With regards to this, the protestors claimed that “Many of the students either lost a parent or both to Covid around the exam day or themselves suffered from the infection. We are just seeking the implementation of provisions already available. Additional chances should be provided to affected candidates who could not appear for the exam in the last two years," as stated in a report by The Indian Express.
