The petitioners say their preparations were thwarted by the closures and restrictions.
The Union government told the Supreme Court on Friday that they were being discussed to grant another chance to applicants to the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission), especially whose last attempt to break the preliminaries expired in October 2020.
“Both the Center and the UPSC are making decisions on a proposal to give one more chance to students affected by the pandemic,” said a bench led by Judge AM Khanwilkar.
The court was hearing a petition filed by 59 applicants, represented by lead attorney Mukul Rohatgi and attorney Anushree Prashit Kapadia. They were unable to attend the October preliminaries or were disabled in their preparations due to the pandemic and closures.
They advocated a second chance and the corresponding relaxation of age. They said their preparations were stalled by closures and restrictions. The training centers were closed and study material was scarce. Many could not even attend the exam.
On October 26, the Department of Personnel and Training informed the court that the government was considering giving last-chance candidates another chance for the exam.
‘Decision in 3 or 4 weeks’
On Friday, Attorney General Tushar Mehta said the issue was not contradictory and that a decision would be made on giving another chance in the next three to four weeks.
The government referred to the court order of September 30 in this regard in the Vasireddy Govardhana Sai Prakash case against UPSC.
In September, the court refused to postpone the October preliminaries, but recorded the government’s guarantee to make a swift decision on granting a second chance to “last attempts”.
“Some of the candidates may be giving the last try and are also likely to be age-barred for the next exam, and if such candidates are unable to sit for the exam due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, it would cause them a great loss, ”The order of September 30 said.
The court then continued with the order to “impress” the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Personnel and Training to “explore the possibility of providing one more attempt to such candidates with the corresponding extension of limit. old”
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