Possible To Give One Time Relaxation For Candidates Who Missed Mains Due To COVID? Supreme Court Asks Centre, UPSC

Is it possible to give a one-time relaxation for civil service exam candidates who missed the mains exam this year due to COVID-related restrictions, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Union of India and the Union Public Service Commission.A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and Abhay S Oka asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati and UPSC's counsel Advocate Naresh Kaushik to also obtain clarity as regards the applicable rules and regulations.Senior Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayanan and Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the candidates, told the bench that they are now seeking an opportunity to attend the mains exam next year, as the UPSC has already declared this year's results on March 17. The lawyers informed the bench that for most of the petitioners, this was the last attempt. They missed the Mains exam, despite qualifying the highly competitive preliminary test, either due to the fact that they themselves were infected with COVID or their family members were infected as a result of which they had to observe quarantine.The petitioners referred to the example of an extra chance being given in the IIT-JEE exam for students who missed it due to COVID. They also argued that last year's judgment in the case Rachna versus Union of India- in which the Supreme Court turned down a plea for extra-attempt- was distinguishable as it pertained to the preliminary examination, which is attempted by over 10 lakh students and the instant case related to the mains exam, which was attempted by around 9000 candidates. The bench wanted clarity regarding the applicable regulations in order to ascertain if they permitted the relaxation as sought for by the petitioners.Accordingly, the Court adjourned to Wednesday the pleas seeking relaxation in terms of one additional attempt at the civil services examination by those who could not appear in the Mains on account of COVID.Courtroom ExchangeSenior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, for the petitioners: "The UPSC has filed a reply. We have also filed a rejoinder to it. Even though we have approached your lordships in time and then they took time to file reply, they also released the final results. Those results were declared on 17 March 2022 and in fairness we cannot ask you to unscramble the egg and accommodate us. What we will be confining ourselves to is the fact that because we were undone by the regulations of the State- because of the guidelines which have been issued- and in this case, unlike any of the other cases like that Rachana's order which they keep pointed out, there are two differences- one, this is dealing with the mains; those who have cleared the prelims and made it to the mains, so there is substantial number difference in the number of the people. Those who were shortlisted for mains is less than those in the prelims..."Justice A. M. Khanwilkar: "How many candidates are there who cleared prelims but could not appear in mains because of Covid?"Advocate Naresh Kaushik, for UPSC: "We can give the number of the persons who downloaded their admit cards and they could not take later because of Covid reasons or whatever reasons"Justice Khanwilkar: "we want to know who could not take because of Covid, those affected by Covid"Mr. Kaushik: "I can seek instructions as to how many people wrote to us..."Advocate Prashant Bhushan, for intervenors: "The number will not be very large, not definitely in the thousands, it will be in the hundreds"Mr. Sankaranarayanan: "For the mains, 9214 people were called. For the prelims, there were 10,00,000 people"Justice Khanwilkar: "Out of this 9214, how many appeared in mains?"Mr. Kaushik: "I will get the complete details, I will have the data available with me"Justice Khanwilkar: "Matter is listed today, you should have got the details earlier. We were bound to ask this question. Every time we cannot keep adjourning the matter"Mr. Kaushik: "Almost all must have taken the mains examination. Because an attempt at the prelims is deemed to be an attempt at the examination..."Mr. Sankaranarayanan: "Even from that small subset, there is an even smaller subset which is those for whom this would have been the last attempt either by virtue of age 32 being the Cut off or with the number of attempts as six attempts is the maximum. Among the petitioners of the three of us, there are two of us for whom it was the last attempt. And the other major distinction from the other order is that in those cases there were people whose family members had got Covid and they said because of isolation rules we cannot leave the home and come to the exam. Here the candidates themselves got it"Justice Khanwilkar: "There is some caveat here. Those persons whose family members got infected were provided separate accommodation, separate enclosure where they could appear in the examination. That was the arrangement made"Mr. Sankaranarayanan: "In the UPSC's affidavit, they admit there is no separate arrangement...Your Lordships had then said...

Possible To Give One Time Relaxation For Candidates Who Missed Mains Due To COVID? Supreme Court Asks Centre, UPSC

Mehal Jain

Tags