UPSC Extra Chance For Last Attempt Candidates : Supreme Court Reserves Judgment [LIVE UPDATES]

Divan: The impact was so overwhelming. If you have the power to be more considerate, then you cannot get into the nitty-gritty of how many have given the exam. Everyone has been impacted, but some have been more impacted than others.

Divan: Other people from metros may have superior internet connections which others across the country may not have. Then there’s the issue of essential workers. They had to subordinate their personal interest of appearing in the exam to that.

Divan: While you must have faced certain difficulties, but what about others who faced the same ? I think there would be a possible gradation in those sets of difficulties. For instance, take gender. Working women had enormous domestic difficulties in addition to their work.

Divan: The popular expression is “the year was cancelled”. But, the exam was not cancelled.

Bench seeks for figures on the number of candidates who applied and appeared.

ASG: 10,66,855 applied and around 4 lakh appeared.

Bench: These are problems which may be faced by candidates who are giving the exam for the first time.

Divan: Definitely, but we believe that the government must have some regard to these problems. 

Divan: The crucial point is that some books are not available. Only shops and libraries have these books. It’s also not feasible to read pages and pages of material on phones and laptops. 

Divan: There’s a need for an index. Of course, one can say that the material is there on the internet. But, there’s no realistic way for a candidate to do well unless she has the indexed material.

Divan makes submissions on how the absence of libraries and study material has impacted the preparation of studies.

“Need for access to materials in form of libraries, coaching institutes. It’s not possible for an individual to go through all of this”.

Divan: Please have a look at the order passed by this Court.

Divan now reads through the paper book. 

Divan: It’s completely unjustified to not relax the limit. They have a power and the duty to relax this. This is the broad contour of my case.