NEW DELHI: On Thursday, the Supreme Court requested a response from the Center and the Union Public Service Commission in a request for postponement of civil services 2020 exams in light of alarming Covid-19 outbreak pandemic and floods.
A bench of judges AM Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna issued notices to UPSC, Center and released the matter for hearing on September 28, 2020.
The petitioners have requested the postponement of the civil service examination for two to three months, so that the incessant floods / rains disappear and the Covid-19 curve flattens.
The guilty plea filed by Vasireddy Govardhana Sai prakash and others argued that the UPSC’s decision to conduct the examination according to the revised schedule violates the rights of the petitioners and those in a similar situation, in accordance with Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution. to practice the chosen profession / occupation. to serve the public.
The guilty plea was filed by 20 UPSC applicants through defender Alakh Alok Srivastava against the conduct of the civil service (preliminary) examination on 4 October.
According to the petition, this seven-hour offline exam will be taken by approximately six lakhs of applicants at testing centers in 72 cities across the country.
Carrying out the aforementioned exam across India at such a dangerous time, is nothing more than putting the lives of billions of young students (including applicants here) at the greatest risk and danger of illness and death. Also, natural calamities such as floods, incessant rains, landslides, etc. are likely. directly affect the lives and health of applicants and many students in similar situations.
Therefore, the challenged revised calendar is completely arbitrary, unreasonable, capricious and clearly violates the right to health and the right to life of the petitioners in this document and billions of similarly situated students, according to Article 21, according to request.
The petition stated that the civil service exam, being a recruitment exam, is completely different from an academic exam and in case of postponement, there would be no question of delay or loss of an academic session.
He said that due to the unavailability of examination centers in their hometowns, many applicants are facing unimaginable difficulties due to unavailability or unsafe health conditions in PG accommodations / hostels / hotels etc. where they are forced to stay with their relatives, once they travel to an examination center at a remote station.
It is pertinent to mention here that despite the alarming outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, UPSC did not increase the number of test centers, resulting in a situation where many candidates from rural areas will be forced to travel around 300 to 400 kilometers to reach their test centers and there will be a high probability that such applicants will be affected while using public transportation for said trip, according to the statement.
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