Civil services exams cannot be postponed, UPSC tells SC

A three-judge SC bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, BR Gavai, and Krishna Murari was hearing a plea seeking to quash the revised calendar issued by the UPSC, according to Bar & Bench.

The plea, filed through advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, sought the postponement of the exam by two or three months till the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided.

In their plea, the petitioners stated that the decision to conduct the exam is violative of their rights under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution to practice their chosen profession/occupation of serving the public.

The plea stated that the petitioners may not be able to attend the exam as scheduled on October 4, citing the risk of illness or death.

Further, the plea asserted that since it is a recruitment examination, there is no question of delay or loss of academic session.

It said that if the exam is held as per schedule, underprivileged students will suffer the most.

It also pointed out that states like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have already canceled/indefinitely postponed their State Public Service Examinations due to COVID-19.

However, the UPSC, represented by advocate Naresh Kaushik, told the court that it was "impossible" to postpone the exams.

Kaushik said, "It is impossible to agree to petitioners. It was supposed to be held on September 30. Thereafter it was deferred to October 4. Deferment would nullify the objective of conducting the exam for four arms of government."

According to the Union Health Ministry, as of 8 am on Monday, India reported a total of 60,74,703 COVID-19 cases with 82,170 fresh infections in the previous 24 hours.

The total cases include 9,62,640 active infections while 50,16,521 patients have been cured or discharged.

The death toll has risen to 95,542 with 1,039 more fatalities in the past 24 hours.