The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre as well as the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on a writ petition filed by persons with disabilities (PwD) candidates appearing for the Civil Services Examination (CSE), 2025 seeking option to change the name of scribe given in the application form.
The case was heard by a bench comprising of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.
Also read: UPSC Civil Services Prelims exam 2025 registration deadline extended again
As per a report by Live Law , the petitioners stated that the application form for CSE 2025 asks for the scribe details few months before the examination, and such details cannot be changed once submitted.
Seeking an interim relief, Advocate Rahul Bajaj who represented the petitioners pointed out that the PwD candidates are asked to share the details of their scribe by the deadline of application form, that is February 18, months before Prelims exam that is scheduled for May 25, 2025, the Mains exam another three months later.
Bajaj added that obtaining such a long term commitment from scribe, who are only doing this as a voluntary service, would prove to be extraordinarily difficult for a large number of the petitioners.
{{/usCountry}}Bajaj added that obtaining such a long term commitment from scribe, who are only doing this as a voluntary service, would prove to be extraordinarily difficult for a large number of the petitioners.
{{/usCountry}}Furthermore, it was also pointed out that PwD candidates are not allowed to take the exam using a screen reading software such as Access With Speech (JAWS), as was allowed by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan for students appearing for the All India Bar Association exam.
Meanwhile, even as the court issued the notice to the Centre and the UPSC, it declined to grant any interim relief at this stage, Live Law reported. The Apex Court sought the responses from the commission as well as the central government on the matter within 2 weeks, and posted the matter for next hearing on March 4, 2025.
It may be mentioned here that the UPSC once again extended the registration deadline for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination, 2025, allowing candidates to apply up to February 21, 6 pm, at upsc.gov.in and upsconline.gov.in.
The UPSC CSE prelims 2025 registration original deadline was February 11, which was later extended to February 18.
Through this recruitment drive, the commission will fill around 979 vacancies in various services through CSE 2025.