Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking civil services exam postponement

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea demanding postponement of the civil service preliminary exam scheduled to be conducted on October 4. The plea was filed by some civil service aspirants who cited Covid-19 pandemic and floods in several parts of the country as reasons for demanding deferment. The court permitted UPSC to conduct the examination maintaining all Covid-related SOPs issued by Ministry of Home Affairs. All candidates shall be permitted to travel between states upon showing their admit cards, the court said. The court did not permit separate isolation rooms for Covid positive candidates to appear in the exam. It has also refused to accept a suggestion from petitioners to merge this year’s preliminary with next year. However, the apex court 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 pandemic.