E-Paper
Consider plea for extra UPSC attempt for Covid-hit aspirants: SC to govt
The decision came after the Court was informed that a parliamentary standing committee had on March 24 recommended to the government an extra attempt as a general rule for all civil service aspirants due to the hardship caused by the Covid pandemic.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to rethink its stance and reply in two weeks on giving an extra chance to students who failed to appear in the civil services (mains), 2021 examination -- conducted early this year -- because they had tested positive for Covid-19.
The decision came after the Court was informed that a parliamentary standing committee had on March 24 recommended to the government an extra attempt as a general rule for all civil service aspirants due to the hardship caused by the Covid pandemic.
Referring to the 112th report of the standing committee on department of personnel and training, the bench of justices AM Khanwilkar, AS Oka and CT Ravikumar said, “In the light of the recommendation of the Parliamentary committee, we dispose this petition with a direction to the appropriate authority to re-examine the request of the petitioners and take appropriate decision in two weeks.”
The order came on a petition filed by three civil service aspirants who had contracted coronavirus and could not appear for the Mains examination, held from January 7-16. The standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Centre required them to isolate and not attend the examination, but the Centre and the union public service commission (UPSC) rejected their demand for an extra chance fearing similar demands from other categories of students and in other central examinations.
The petitioners, Arjit Shukla, Kartikeya Sharma and Shubham Jain, represented by senior advocate Gopal Shankarnaraynan, along with intervenors represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, pointed out that the Centre had power to relax the number of attempts for giving the civil service examinations (CSE). Presently, a general category candidate can take six attempts to qualify till he attains 32 years of age.
Moreover, Bhushan cited the parliamentary committee report which recommended a general relaxation on the number of attempts and age criteria as a one-time measure due to the pandemic.
The report said, “Keeping in view the hardships faced by the student community during the first and second COVID waves, the Committee recommends the Government to change its mind and sympathetically consider the demand of CSE aspirants and grant an extra attempt with corresponding age relaxation to all candidates.
The committee came to this conclusion as it noted, “Covid-19 has caused untold agony and insurmountable sufferings to many. The whole of India had come to a standstill, lives and livelihoods got disrupted and the student community was also adversely affected.”
Shankarnaraynan showed the court that under Regulation 4 of the Indian Administrative Service (Appointment by Competitive Examination) Regulations, 1955, the government has the power to relax the conditions of eligibility. The bench said in its order, “The authorities may take a decision having regard to the discretion bestowed on them under Regulation 4 of the 1955 Regulations.”
However, the Court noted that its order should not be seen as an expression of opinion on what conclusion has to be arrived at by the authorities.
This petition presented a unique case brought forth by candidates who cleared the preliminary examination conducted last year and sought an extra attempt to appear for the Mains exam as they had tested positive for Covid-19. The petitioners wanted to be accommodated for the next cycle of CSE as they argued that the number of students similarly placed like them would be very few.
At one point during the hearing, the court asked the Centre, “How many such students will be affected by denial of extra chance.”
Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati told the Court that similar concession was sought for by candidates for the CSE (Prelims) conducted during the first and second wave of Covid pandemic, but their requests were turned down by the Supreme Court.
The Centre, in its response filed last week, said: “Any relaxation to age limit and number of permissible attempts due to Covid-19 pandemic could lead to similar demands being made by other category of candidates. It will also impinge on chances of other candidates who are eligible as per the existing provision, because it will increase the number of candidates competing with such candidates. It will also lead to similar demands by candidates of other examinations conducted all over the country.”
For two of the three petitioners, it was their last possible attempt given the stipulation on age and number of attempts. The petition, filed through advocate Shashank Singh said, “The petitioners, in the absence of any arrangement by UPSC for Covid positive candidates, were indeed caught between a rock and a hard place. Therefore, the aforesaid situation was of forced default for which they can’t be faulted and their career can’t be jeopardized.”
