Civil Service re-examination will have cascading effects: UPSC tells SC

New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), while opposing the plea seeking extra attempt for candidates who could not appear in the Civil Services Mains exam, said if the Commission makes a provision for re-examination, then it will have cascading effects on the schedules of other ongoing examinations as well as other exams to follow.

UPSC also submitted that accommodating such requests will lead to a chaotic situation where no examination can be completed on schedule. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the UPSC has opposed the plea seeking extra attempt and said that the petition is without merit.

UPSC also said that DoP&T is also a stakeholder in the process of conduct of civil services exam and consequently, the views and stand of the DoP&T also may be considered in the interest of justice, on the issues raised in the petition.

UPSC, in its affidavit also apprised the Court that the existing age range for admission to the Civil Services Examination is 21 to 32 years with relaxations for certain categories of candidates and the permissible number of attempts is also six with relaxations for certain categories of candidates. “Thus, the existing rules provide for fair opportunities to the aspirants to make an attempt at this examination to secure a placement in case one attempt is lost due to some exigencies, ” UPSC submitted.

UPSC also apprised the Court that it is imperative that the Commission follows its schedules of Examinations which are prepared well in advance in order to perform its constitutional obligations to supply manpower to the Government in a timely manner to fill the vacancies in the crucial positions.

If the Commission is to make a provision for re-examination, it will hardly be possible for it to complete its any examination on time, UPSC pointed out.

“This will entail complete derailment of the schedule of post-examination activities of a particular examination but will also have cascading effects on the schedules of other ongoing examinations as well as other exams to follow, ” UPSC said.

“In fact, accommodating such requests will lead to a chaotic situation where no examination can be completed on schedule, as a result of which vacancies in government will remain unfilled for an indefinite period and the aspirants of the Commission’s examinations will also remain in limbo as to when the results will be declared or when the next advertisement for recruitment will be issued, ” UPSC added.

“As a result, the greater public interest will be adversely affected to accommodate the individual request(s). In addition to that, in the Commission’s examinations, there is no provision for the multi-shot examination which means any single paper of an examination is conducted only once and not more than that in any circumstances. Resorting to such a system would lead to different difficulty levels of question papers and linked complications, ” UPSC said.

UPSC reply came on a petition filed by UPSC aspirants seeking to extend the benefit of additional/extra attempt.

The petition was filed by three UPSC aspirants through advocate Shashank Singh. The petitioner has urged to issue appropriate direction to UPSC to extend the benefit of additional/Extra Attempt and to make some arrangement for petitioner to appear in the rest of the papers which the Petitioners could not give before the publication of the result of Civil service Mains Examination 2021.

The Petitioners said that they are UPSC aspirants who have cleared the UPSC-2021 Prelims Examination and were entitled to appear in the UPSC Mains Examination which was scheduled from 7- January to 16″ January 2022. The Petitioners could not give UPSC Mains Examination being Covid Positive and owing to the restrictions imposed under the strict quarantine guidelines of the Government. Also, there was the absence of any kind of policy of UPSC which could provide arrangements for such Petitioners who were Covid Positive during the span of mains examination or before it.

The Petitioners has urged the Court to direct to the UPSC to extend them an additional (Extra) attempt to appear in the examination or in alternate make some arrangement to appear in the rest of papers which the Petitioners could not do before the publication of the result of Civil service Mains Examination 2021.