The matter was taken up at the residence of Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai, pursuant to an administrative order passed by the Chief Justice on June 27, 2026, with regard to the extreme urgency of the matter.

Briefly put, the petitioner (Shalini Pandey) had successfully qualified the preliminary examination conducted by Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) for recruitment to the post of APO 2025.

Thereafter, she submitted her online application for the Mains Examination and dispatched a printed copy of the application form, along with all self-attested supporting academic documents, by Speed Post on May 17, 2026.

Although these documents were received by the UPPSC within time, her candidature was rejected by vide an order dated June 11, 2026, solely on the ground that she did not submit the hard copy of the online application form for appearing in the Mains Examination.

Challenging this order in the early morning hearing, Advocate Anurag Tripathi, appearing for the petitioner, relied on a recent coordinate bench order wherein, in similar circumstances, a candidate was provisionally permitted to appear in the Mains Examination.

It was submitted that the case of the present petitioner stands on the same footing and hence, she should also be provisionally permitted to appear for the Mains examination.

Significantly, this factual parity was not denied by Advocate RK Upadhyaya, the counsel representing the Commission. He also did not dispute that the petitioner had submitted the online application form.

Furthermore, he informed the Court that necessary arrangements could be made to permit the petitioner to provisionally appear, as the authorities of the Commission were already aware of the filing of the present petition and its listing today.

In view of the admitted facts, the bench directed that the petitioner be provisionally permitted to appear in the Mains Examination, which was scheduled to be held on the same day as the hearing (June 28), starting at 9:00 A.M.

"Her candidature has been rejected solely on the ground that she did not submit the hard copy of the application form. Accordingly, the petitioner is permitted to provisionally appear in the Mains Examination, subject to further orders to be passed in the present writ petition", the bench directed.

Taking into account the urgency of the matter, Justice Rai directed the UPPSC's counsel to immediately inform the Secretary of the Commission to take all necessary steps to ensure that the petitioner is permitted to provisionally appear in the Mains Examination at any examination centre in Lucknow.

In the meantime, the Court granted the petitioner liberty to challenge the June 11 order rejecting her candidature by filing an appropriate amendment application.

The State-respondent has been directed to file a counter-affidavit within three weeks, followed by a rejoinder within one week. The matter is now listed for further hearing on July 29, 2026.