BHUBANESWAR: The state government has allowed one last chance to those who have attained the upper-age limit or have exhausted their attempts to appear in Odisha Civil Services Examination (OCSE), 2020, on account of Covid-19.
The state government’s move follows pleas to chief minister Naveen Patnaik, chief secretary Asit Tripathy, OPSC authorities and several ministers by aspirants who had failed to appear for the prelims of OCSE, 2019, which was held on March 15, on account of Covid fear.
“Demand for additional chance to appear in OCSE, 2020, was received by the state government from some OSCE aspirants,” said Sanjeev Chopra, principal secretary, general administration department, in the order, which will be published in the Odisha gazette soon. The provisions of the OCS, Combined Competitive Recruitment Examination (CCRE), Rules, 1991, will be amended accordingly.
Official sources said of the 44,636 candidates who had applied for OCSE, 2019, only 25,780 (around 57%) appeared for the preliminary exam.
“As the state government had declared Covid-19 a state disaster on March 13, many meritorious students from rural areas could not appear for the prelims on March 15. Those who appeared were in a state of anxiety owing to Covid-19 fear,” said Kalpataru Biswal, an aspirant.
Biswal said those who qualified for the prelims could not prepare well for the main exam because of Covid-related curbs even as libraries, colleges, universities and coaching institutes remained closed.
“Though we had urged the state government to allow two compensatory attempts to aggrieved candidates to compete in OCSEs 2020 and 2021, the government has allowed only one. We welcome the decision,” said Bijay Kumar Lenka, another aspirant.
Meanwhile, many aspirants have urged the government to increase the upper-age limit for unreserved candidates from 32 to 42, as has been done by states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana.