Extra Chance For UPSC Civil Service Examination- Supreme Court Hearing- Live-Updates

Raju: Their entire case is based on the fact that they couldn’t prepare adequately because of 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.

Bench: Then why not give a one-time relaxation ? Only 2000 candidates will benefit, without the age-limit barred candidates. Remove the age-limit part for the time being. 

Raju: There was no system of preliminary examination.

Bench: If it will only benefit 3300 students, and out of them, some will be barred because of the age-limit. 

Raju notes that in 1992 and 2015, a relaxation had been done due to pattern change in the examination.

Bench: So, it had been done once before.

Raju submits that there was no preliminary exam back then.

Adv. Kanu Agrawal seeks permission to share the chart on the screen.

Bench agrees.

Chart is now visible on the screen. 

Raju: That suggestion, my Lord, is not acceptable.

Raju submits that a chart has been prepared, with information listed from 1951. “The separate chart gives those details”.

Raju: When it comes to numbers, 3863 were given and qualified were 555. As far as age is concerned, 2236 -

Bench: We told you, that for the time being we won’t go by age. Maintain that age, and give a one-time concession.

ASG SV Raju appears.

He submits that the Centre is still not agreeable to the request. 

Last week, the Centre filed an Affidavit stating that the Central Government was not agreeable to giving an extra chance to the candidates who had exhausted their last attempt in October 2020 on account of the fact that it would entail differential treatment.