The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) two weeks to respond to a plea for a second chance by civil services aspirants who were unable to attend their Mains exam after having been diagnosed with COVID-19. A Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar deferred the hearing to March 21. It asked the parties to file their response through affidavits.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, for the aspirants, urged the court to give an earlier date. He submitted that the interviews were scheduled in April.
The petitioners, three of them, have sought a direction to the UPSC to extend them an additional attempt to appear in the exam or make some arrangement to appear in the remaining papers.. The petitioners had cleared the UPSC-2021 prelims examination. They were to appear in the Mains between January 7 and January 16, 2022.
Mr. Sankaranarayanan had informed the Bench that out of the three petitioners, two had appeared in some papers before they were tested positive for COVID-19. He said the petitioners could have suppressed and lied, but they had not. The petitioners, in their plea filed through advocate Shashank Singh, said they were tested positive for COVID-19 according to RTPCR test reports on January 6, 13 and 14.
