Centre rules out relief to civil service aspirants

New Delhi: Minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, personnel, public grievances, Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday stated in the Rajya Sabha that there was no proposal to relax the age limit or increase the fixed attempts of candidates appearing for the Union Public Service Commission, Civil Services exams.

The minister was responding in a written reply to a question by YSRCP member V Vijayasai Reddy on whether the Supreme Court had asked the government to increase the number of attempts to candidates appearing for the UPSC civil services exams in 202o as they were affected in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

The minister stated that some UPSC, CSE aspirants had been demanding an extra attempt and age relaxation in the civil services exam and had filed writ petitions in the Supreme Court seeking an order from the government for the same.

He said that after considering the judgments passed by the Supreme Court on this, the government felt that it would not be possible to relax the age limit of the candidates and change the rules to allow for additional attempts. The minister also clarified that the government had no such proposal to enhance the age limit or increase the number of attempts.

Vijayasai Reddy had earlier raised the matter under Special Mention too wherein he said, "It is disheartening to see that even after two years of the pandemic, the plight of UPSC aspirants has not been addressed. Due to Covid-19, thousands of aspirants across the country have faced difficulties in preparing and appearing for the Civil Services Exam. While some have been suffering from health issues or dealing with the loss of loved ones, others have faced severe financial difficulties or been unable to access the digital resources needed for online coaching."

Given these unfortunate circumstances, extra attempts and age relaxations must be given to UPSC aspirants on compassionate grounds, he said. Such concessions have been given previously during extraordinary situations such as the implementation of the Mandal Commission report in 1990 and changes made in exam pattern in 2013. The Supreme Court has also said that a "lenient view" should be taken on this issue, he said.