New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned a plea seeking an extra chance for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants who exhausted their last attempt in UPSC exam held in October 2020.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar adjourned the matter for hearing till Friday after taking Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s request into consideration.
In Monday’s hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju reiterated the central government’s stand that they were not agreeable to giving a one-time concession to the candidates who had not been able to prepare for UPSC exam 2020 adequately due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ASG also submitted a chart to the court which stipulated the details that had been sought by the top court at the previous hearing and, pertained to the number of times relaxation had been given in the past and how many candidates would come into the fray if such a relaxation was given.
The SC was informed that in the years 1992 and 2015, a relaxation had been given due to pattern change in the civil service exam. Further, there was no system of preliminary examination back then.
The Supreme Court then asked Raju that if it would only benefit 2,000 candidates or so, excluding those who had crossed the age-limit, why could a one-time relaxation not be given.
He responded saying, “Their entire case is based on the fact that they could not prepare adequately because of the pandemic. Kindly look at the syllabus, time limit and paper. It consists of Paper 1 and Paper 2. Only 1 paper of 200 marks counts, the other one is a qualifying paper”.
Before the ASG could continue, the Bench requested petitioners to argue their case first. However, before Senior Advocate Shyam Divan could commence his submissions, the SG requested the Bench to adjourn the matter to later this week.
“We need some time to discuss the matter. If you could consider adjourning it to Wednesday or Thursday…”, stated the SG. The bench noted that the government could notify the rules by then. However, the SG assured the court that the same would not happen. Accordingly, the matter will now be heard on Friday.