The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had told the Supreme Court that it is impossible to postpone the Civil Services exams any longer. The Supreme Court asked UPSC to file an affidavit by tomorrow.
The Supreme Court was hearing a guilty plea filed by the UPSC applicants, seeking postponement of the upcoming (preliminary) Civil Services Exam 20.
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 bench headed by Judge AM Khanwilkar asked the Commission to submit an affidavit stating its position by tomorrow and released the matter for a further 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.
Without issuing notice, a court of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna agreed to hear the matter and released the petitioner to deliver an advance copy of the petition to the Permanent Counsel of the Union Public Service Commission, as well as the Attorney Standing Central Agency representing Union of India via email / online.
On September 24 after the hearing, lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava, who appeared on behalf of the petitioners, told the media that notices had been sent to the respondents to respond. Later that day, the order was uploaded to the supreme court’s website, making it clear that the justices only agreed to hear the matter without issuing any notice.
The order stated that “freedom is granted to deliver an advance copy to the permanent attorney of the Union Public Service Commission as well as the permanent attorney of the Central Agency representing the Union of India by email or online. Let the matter be listed on September 28. ” . “
The petitioners had requested the postponement of the Public Function Exam for two to three months, so that the incessant floods / rains disappear and the COVID-19 curve flattens. The allegation presented by Vasireddy Govardhana Sai Prakash and others alleged that the decision of the UPSC to conduct the examination in accordance with the challenged 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 exercise the chosen profession / occupation of serving the public.
The guilty plea was filed by 20 UPSC applicants against the completion of the Civil Services Exam (Preliminary) on October 4.
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 examination throughout India at such a dangerous time is nothing more than putting the lives of billions of young students (including the petitioners in this document) at the greatest risk and danger of illness and death. Also, natural calamities such as floods, incessant rains, landslides, etc. directly affect the life and health of the petitioners and of 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 hundreds of thousands of similarly situated students, according to Article 21, “the petition said.
The petition stated that the Civil Services Exam, being a recruitment exam, is completely different from an academic exam and, in the event of postponement, there would be no issue of delay or loss of an academic session.
He said that due to the unavailability of exam centers in their hometowns, many applicants face “unimaginable” difficulties due to unavailability or unsafe health conditions in PG accommodations / hostels / hotels, etc. , where they are forced to stay with their family members, once they travel to an Exam 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 in which many candidates from rural areas will be forced to travel around 300 400 kilometers to reach their Test Centers and there will be a high probability that such applicants will be affected while using public transportation for that trip, “the statement said.
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