'We Don't Expect You To Be Rigid' : Supreme Court Asks Centre If Age Relaxation For Last Attempt UPSC Candidates Can Be Considered

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Central Government if it was possible to give age-relaxation to those last chance candidates, to whom the Centre has already agreed to give an extra attempt this year. The submission came after Senior Advocate CU Singh, appearing for the petitioner, informed the bench that the extra chance offer given by the Central Government is "limited only to last chance candidates subject to age-bar". Centre agreed for extra chance only after the nudging by the court The Central Government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that the Centre and Union Public Service Commission have agreed to grant a "one-time, restricted relaxation to prospective candidates" who had given their last attempt of the UPSC exam in October 2020, and were not age-barred. The relevant observations in the Court order are as follows: "The fourth point raised before us is that some of the candidates may be giving last attempt and also likely to become age-barred for the next examination, and if such candidates are unable to appear in the examination due to Covid-19 pandemic situation, it would cause great prejudice to them.In this regard, we have impressed upon Mr. S.V.Raju, learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare and Department of Personnel and Training to explore the possibility of providing one more attempt to such candidates with corresponding extension of age limit.