The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing on a plea filed by a group of UPSC aspirants seeking an extra attempt in the civil service examinations for the year 2021, as a one-time measure owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, asked advocate Atul Agarwal, counsel appearing for the petitioners, to serve a copy of the petition to the counsel of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The plea, filed by 24 UPSC aspirants, submitted that an extra attempt is pertinent because their preparation has been severely disrupted on account of the COVID-19 situation and also because they will become age-barred next year.

Some candidates giving their last attempt and facing age bar disqualification to appear next year had urged court to be allowed to get relaxation on this rule if they were unable to appear due to Covid. The court asked Centre to take a decision on whether this was possible and expected the concerned department to take a call expeditiously.

Hundreds of candidates appeared for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 amid COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on October 4.

The apex court on September 30 declined to postpone the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination.

A Bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar asked the Centre to consider granting one more chance to those aspirants who may not appear in their last attempt for the exam due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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