A bank headed by Judge AM Khanwilkar asked the Commission to submit an affidavit stating its position by tomorrow and published the matter for an additional hearing on Wednesday. The superior court was hearing a guilty plea filed by a group of UPSC applicants seeking to postpone the upcoming 2020 Civil Services (preliminary) Exam.
During the hearing, lawyer Naresh Kaushik who appeared before the UPSC presented in court that it is completely impossible to postpone the examination.
“The matter was considered and the postponement was made, but it was understood that the postponement would completely damage the examination process. It was supposed to take place on September 30. Thereafter, it was postponed until October 4. The postponement would void. the goal of conducting the exam for the four arms of government, “Kaushik presented.
The bank then asked Kaushik to submit a short affidavit listing the logistical reasons for not postponing the exam.
The petition has requested the postponement of the Civil Services Exam for two to three months in view of the incessant flooding and rains in various parts of the country.
The COVID-19 curve may also flatten out and state governments, which are otherwise “certainly not prepared” as of today, have more time to prepare for the implementation of the Exam’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), according to the statement.
The statement, submitted by a group of 20 UPSC applicants through advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, featured that this seven-hour-long offline exam will be conducted by approximately six lakh applicants at testing centers in 72 cities in India and likely to become a major source of further spread of COVID-19 across the country.
He argued that out of fear of the risk of illness or death, some applicants might not be able to sit for the exam.
“The revised calendar for the UPSC exams suffers class discrimination and violates article 14 of the Constitution, since students belonging to the middle class and / or lower middle class will not be able to pay for transportation, accommodation or other expenses to take the exam in the middle of a pandemic, “read the statement seeking the cancellation of the revised calendar.
In addition, he said that the calendar violates article 16 of the Constitution since it deprives many of the applicants of equal opportunities in public employment.
“Cancel the Revised Calendar, 2020, issued by the UPSC, for which it has been decided to take the 2020 Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, on October 4, despite the alarming outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the natural calamities in our country, for violating articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, “said the allegation.
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