New Delhi:
The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that it will give an extra chance to those candidates who missed their last attempt for the UPSC Civil Services exam in 2020 due to COVID 19 pandemic.
The Supreme Court was hearing a plea by Rachna Singh, a civil services aspirant, seeking an extra attempt in the UPSC exams for those candidates who had their last attempt in the preliminary exam held in October 2020 and missed it due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The Civil Services preliminary exam was held on October 4. The exam was initially scheduled in May but had to postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.
In September 2020, the top court had directed the Central Government and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to consider granting an extra chance to candidates who otherwise have their last attempt in 2020, with corresponding extension of the upper age-limit.
The Department of Personnel and Training on October 26 had informed the court that the issue regarding grant of extra attempt to last chance candidates was under the consideration of the authorities. However, on January 22, the Centre said it was not in favour of giving another chance to those aspirants citing that it would create a “cascading” effect, detrimental to the overall functioning and level playing field necessary for a public examination system.
