The Union Public Service Commission on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it has no provisions to hold re-tests for civil services aspirants who have failed to appear for the examination due to any accidents or ailments, reported Live Law.
“In past, the commission has not held any re-examination under similar circumstances,” the UPSC added.
The commission made the statement in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on a petition by civil services aspirants who missed their examination after they contracted the coronavirus disease.
The petitioners urged the court to direct the UPSC to give them an extra chance to appear for the examination, saying that it had earlier granted similar opportunities to candidates in other tests, reported Bar and Bench.
In its affidavit, the commission said that it had “constitutional obligations” to fill vacancies in the government in a timely manner and so it has to follow the schedule of the examinations that are prepared in advance.
“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,” the affidavit said. “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.”
The UPSC said that accepting the request of the petitioners would create a “chaotic situation” where no examinations could be completed on schedule and the vacancies “would remain unfilled for an indefinite period”.
The aspirants would also remain uncertain as to when the results are declared and the next round of recruitments are held, the commission said.
“As a result greater public interest will be adversely affected to accommodate individual requests,” it added.
The affidavit said holding re-examinations would lead to different difficulty levels of question papers and create complications.
The commission also that the existing rules provide “fair opportunities” to the candidates as they are given multiple attempts in case they they do not qualify “due to some exigencies”.
The UPSC stated that the allowing extra attempts is a policy matter that falls under the domain of Department of Personnel and Training.
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