UPSC Civil Service Exam : Supreme Court Rejects Plea Seeking Additional Attempt For Candidates Who Lost Last Chance Due To Covid

The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea seeking reconsideration of the age and attempt relaxation in respect of Civil Services Examination, 2026, for candidates whose last permissible attempt was affected due to Covid-19 pandemic (2020-2021).

The petitioner, a civil aspirant and Covid warrior, was statedly denied leave to appear in the civil services exam in 2021. As such, he prayed for a one-time additional attempt, pointing out that the respondent-authorities failed to hold a consultative process for reconsidering the age and attempt relaxations, despite a judicial direction and multiple representations. But the Court refused to entertain the petition, noting that he approached the Court belatedly after a gap of about 5 years.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta heard the matter.

Briefly put, the plea was filed by one Jaimin Patel, a Civil Service aspirant, seeking constitution of an inter-ministerial committee, having the concerned Cadre Controlling Authorities, to examine the above-stated issues in accordance with the mandatory consultative framework under Article 77(3) of the Constitution of India, the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961, and the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure.

The petitioner prayed that the reconsideration be in consultation with all concerned Cadre Controlling Authorities, the Union Public Service Commission, and relevant Ministries/Departments, and then the report be placed in public domain.

Further, the petitioner sought a direction for the proposed Committee to consider feasibility of granting a one-time additional attempt for UPSC CSE 2026 (scheduled for 24.05.2026) with corresponding age relaxation to candidates for whom the Civil Services Examinations conducted in the years 2020 and 2021 constituted the last permissible attempt both age wise as well as attempt wise.

Until the report of the proposed Committee came to be considered, the petitioner prayed that the issuance and operation of CSE 2026 advertisement be stayed (insofar as it pertains to eligibility conditions relating to age limits and number of permissible attempts).

In the plea, it was urged that despite judicial direction to re-examine representations made by candidates affected during Covid-19 period [Ref: Arijit Shukla v. Union of India, WP(C) 92/2022], Parliamentary recommendations, and availability of empirical data identifying affected classes of candidates, the respondent failed to initiate the mandatory consultative process prescribed under Article 77(3) or to render any reasonable decision.

The petition was filed through AoR Anushree Prashit Kapadia.

Case Title: JAIMIN PATEL Versus DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL AND TRAINING (DOPT) AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 281/2026