The Supreme Court of India has asked Centre to consider the idea of one-time relaxation on age limit to UPSC Civil Service candidates who took the exam amidst COVID-19 and has exceeded their last attempt. As per the reports, The Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, said that the Apex Court’s request will be presented to the concerned authority. The final response on the same will be announced later on.
The Apex Court on Monday, that is February 05, 2021, looked into the matter regarding the age relaxation for UPSC Civil Services candidates. The SC has pointed that it is agreeable to grant one last chance to those IAS candidates who have appeared in the last attempt in the exam 2020 and otherwise restricted by age.
However, it is said earlier that no relaxation will be given to those candidates who have not exhausted their permissible number of attempts or to any other candidates. As per the reports, there would be 2,236 additional candidates appearing for UPSC Civil Services 2021 if the upper age relaxation is allowed to the candidates. Moreover, The centre has also pointed out that if this is granted then it will only be a one-time decision, the upcoming examination will not come under this decision.
During the hearing before the bench which included Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice A M Khanwilkar observed that this is an extraordinary situation which has arisen due to COVID-19 examination. The Bench observed that this is an exceptional situation. Some candidates were serving in the essential times when it required. Some may get the undue benefit of the relaxation but there are some genuine cases as well. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju has pointed out that some candidates may take advantage of this situation negatively.
As we know, last year, some natural and unpredictable global pandemic took place. due to this, several candidates were unable to attempt the exam. The UPSC Civil Services Prelims exam 2020 was conducted on October 04, 2020. Those who appeared for the UPSC IAS 2020 exam were unable to focus and take the examination properly due to COVID-19. Supreme Court after addressing the concern of Civil Services aspirants have asked Centre to take the decision in this issue. The UPSC IAS 2021 exam is expected to take place on June 27, 2021.
