UPSC 2020: SC refuses to grant extra attempt for Civil Services Prelims

UPSC Civil Services is not the exam where you prepare at the eleventh hour, Centre argued in SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant one more chance to those civil services aspirants who exhausted their permissible number of attempts while appearing in UPSC exam held in 2020 amid coronavirus pandemic. The students pleaded SC to grant one more chance as they could not prepare for test due to pandemic. The order was passed by a three-judge Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Indu Malhotra, and Ajay Rastogi.

Earlier this month, the Centre told the apex court that it was against granting one-time relaxation on age limit to UPSC civil service aspirants, including those who had exhausted their last attempt in 2020 exam amid the pandemic. Centre and UPSC said the concerned students would get one more chance this year provided they are not age barred, as it would be discriminatory to other candidates.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Centre, said that initially the government was not willing to concede the extra chance and it was later done at the suggestion of the bench.

This is not the exam where you prepare at the last minutes. People prepare for years together, Raju told the bench. 

The counsel appearing for the petitioners had Monday argued that there should be one-time relaxation on age limit for the aspirants.