No additional attempt in civil services exam, Centre tells SC

The aspirants fell sick with COVID-19 when exam was held in January

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Friday informed the Supreme Court that it will not be feasible to give another chance at the civil services main examination to aspirants who fell sick with COVID-19 when the exam was held in January.

“A number of representations were received in the DoPT putting forth the same demand of compensatory/extra attempt... The matter has been considered and it has not been found feasible to change the existing provisions regarding the number of attempts and age-limit in respect of the civil services examination,” the Centre said in an affidavit.

The exam is conducted by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) annually in accordance with the Civil Services Examination (CSE) Rules notified by the DoPT every year for a particular CSE.

“It is also submitted that any relaxation to age-limit and number of permissible attempts due to COVID-19 pandemic could lead to similar demands being made by the other categories of candidates. It will also impinge on the chances of other candidates...” the DoPT, represented by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, submitted.

Separate affidavit

The UPSC had, in a separate affidavit, informed the court that decisions regarding compensatory or extra attempt or age relaxation was a “policy matter”. It had said the DoPT would be the authority to take a final call on the issue.

In its turn, the DoPT pointed out that the issue of extra attempt had been adjudicated by the Supreme Court in the past against the plea of hardships faced by the aspirants due to the pandemic, but relief was not granted. It said the CSE was held successfully at 24 centres in the country between January 7 and 16 this year.

The UPSC had said that COVID-19 protocols had not made any separate arrangement for the infected candidates.

The Centre and the UPSC were responding to pleas by three civil services aspirants who wanted a second chance at the Mains as they were down with COVID-19 when it was held in January.

“There is no provision to hold re-examination in case a candidate failed to appear in the examination on the scheduled dates for any reason, including ailment/accident incapacitating him or her to take the examination. In the past, the commission has not held any reexamination under similar circumstances,” the UPSC affidavit had said.

Constitutional obligation

The Commission had stated that it was under a constitutional obligation to supply manpower to the government in a timely manner to fill the vacancies in crucial positions. It had to follow its schedule of exams, which are prepared well in advance. Re-examination would have a cascading effect and derail the post examination activities.

Accommodating requests for a second opportunity would lead to a chaotic situation where no exam could be completed on schedule. Vacancies would remain unfilled for an indeterminate period and public interest would suffer, the UPSC had explained.

Both the DoPT and the UPSC argued that multiple chances were anyway given to civil services aspirants in case they lost an opportunity to take the exam due to some exigency.