Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Centre are expected to respond in the Supreme Court today with regard to the plea seeking for the postponement of the Civil Services preliminary exam. The Court on September 24 had asked the Commission to respond today.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna sent the notice to the Commission and the Centre on September 24. The plea urged the Commission to postpone the exam by 2 or 3 months due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic and flood situation across the country.
The petition was filed by Vasireddy Govardhana Sai Prakash and others. It said that the exam amid such the pandemic and flooding situation violates the rights of the candidates under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution to practice their chosen profession/occupation of serving the public.
The petitioner also said that the conduct of the Civil Services exam is different than the conduct of academic exams as there is no question of loss of academic year. SC had previously given green light for the conduct of NEET UG and JEE exam in the month of September.
The petitioner also said that the Commission has not increased the number of exam centre whch will result in many candidates needing to travel 300-400 kilometres to give the exam. The low number of centres will increase the probability of candidates getting infected.
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