SC for age relief in UPSC civil services exam

LAST WEEK, THE GOVERNMENT HAD OFFERED TO PROVIDE AN EXTRA CHANCE TO THE CANDIDATES AS LONG AS THEY HAD AGE ON THEIR SIDE

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Monday urged the Union government to give a one-time waiver of age apart from an extra chance to civil services aspirants who will appear for the exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in 2021.

Last week, the government, on being nudged by the court, had offered to provide an extra chance to the candidates as long as they had age on their side.

But on Monday, an Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, asked the government to also consider providing a one-time relaxation in age and not oust those who were over the age limit.

Currently, candidates in the general category can appear up to six times in the exam, with an age limit of 32 years; for those belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes, there is no limit on the number of attempts and the age limit is 37 years.

During the hearing on Monday, a clutch of aspirants had submitted before the top court that the age bar will affect candidates from marginalised communities and that there were only 2,236 candidates who would be eligible to sit for the 2021 exam if age limits were relaxed.

At this, the bench, which also included justice Dinesh Maheshwari, asked additional solicitor general SV Raju to make an exception, considering the extraordinary situations that had arisen due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At least 100 candidates had approached the Supreme Court in December last year seeking an extra chance citing the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many of the petitioners were front-line workers, and contended that they did not get sufficient time to prepare. Some of the petitioners were from farflung areas who claimed they could not access study material due to poor internet connectivity.

“We don’t expect you (government) to be rigid on this aspect. There were extraordinary circumstances. We agree it is a policy decision but policies are based on ground realities,” the apex court bench said.