SC refuses to postpone UPSC prelims examination scheduled on October 4

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to postpone the Civil Services Preliminary examination, scheduled to be held on October 4, due to Covid-19 pandemic and incessant rains and flood in some parts of the country.

A bench presided over by Justice A M Khanwilkar said that the UPSC has to ensure conformity of their guidelines with that of Ministry of Home Affairs, especially to see more than 100 candidates are not allowed in one centre.

If the guidelines, issued by the UPSC were not found in conformity, then supplementary Standard Operating Procedure can be issued, the court said, adding that the candidates having UPSC admit cards should be allowed to stay in local hotels.

"Allowing Covid-19 positive people inside the examination centres will expose other candidates which is avoidable. UPSC should ensure separate sitting arrangements for candidates who are suffering from cough and cold during the test," the court said.

The court asked Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Centre, to explore the possibility of one more opportunity to the candidates, who failed to take up the test in their last attempt.

A petition was filed by Vasireddy Govardhana Sai Prakash and 19 other aspirants for deferring the examination for two-three months.

During the hearing, senior advocate V K Shukla and others suggested for the merging of 2020 prelims and 2021 prelims, saying we were not impressed, as resorting to this will lead to cascading effect on other examinations.

The UPSC, for its part, said that it has made all preparations for conducting the examinations on October 4, which can, in no way, be changed.

Delaying this examination would delay UPSC Prelims 2021 too which is scheduled for June 27. It also pointed candidates are graduates and can be expected of responsible behaviour.

The UPSC also pointed out it has incurred a cost of Rs 50.30 crores for all arrangements.

About 6 lakh aspirants are likely to appear in the seven-hour offline examination, at centres in 72 cities.