Supreme Court directs release of UPSC mains admit cards to candidates for error or non-availability of certificates

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed UPSC to release admit cards to candidates who were not allowed to appear in the upcoming civil services mains examination on the ground of minor clerical errors in their EWS certificates or non-issuance of final degrees by their educational institutions.

A bench comprising Justices A.S. Boppana and Prashant Kumar Mishra granted relief to two aspirants who were insisted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to only submit their final degrees as proof of educational qualification under Civil Services Examination Rules, 2023.

Advocates Gaurav Agarwal and Tanya Shree pleaded that these petitioners, who were in their final year at relevant time, had uploaded their Bonafide Certificate issued by their respective Universities along with an undertaking that they will submit their final degree as soon as the same is made available to them post declaration of their results by their educational institutions.

The petitioners, who have duly qualified for the preliminary examination, moved the apex court challenging the “arbitrary and unreasonable cancellation of their candidature” by the Union Commission on September 1 and August 31 for not submitting requisite proof of educational qualification.

It is pertinent to note that students in their final semester of the qualifying degree examination are allowed to fill out the examination form for the UPSC.

Similarly, ten aspirants were extended relief who had approached the top court against cancellation of their candidatures on technical grounds such as error by the Competent Authority in issuing the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) certificate or non-uploading of the Income and Asset Certificate on account of technical glitch.

As per the petition filed before the Supreme Court, these candidates were in possession of the Income and Asset Certificate issued to them by the Competent Authority prior to the cut- off date of February 21.

The plea added that their exclusion on ground of minor discrepancies reeks of unreasonableness and manifest arbitrariness resulting in denial of equal opportunity in matters of public employment.