The Central government has agreed to allow one-time relaxation to civil service aspirants who have exhausted all their attempts at the Civil Service Examination (CSE) in October 2020 (Rachna v. Union of India)

The government told the Supreme Court that such candidates who appeared for CSE-2020 as their last permissible attempt will be allowed one more extra-attempt specifically limited to CSE-2021 provide they are not otherwise age-barred from appearing in CSE-2021.

This relaxation for the candidates and to the extent as prescribed above, shall be a one-time relaxation only and shall apply only for appearing in CSE- 2021 and shall not be treated as a precedent, it added.

No relaxation shall be granted for CSE-2021 to those candidates who have not exhausted their permissible number of attempts or to those candidates who are otherwise age-barred from appearing in CSE-2021 as per the prescribed age limits of different categories, the note made it clear.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) limits the number of attempts for a candidate to appear in the UPSC Civil Services examination.

It is currently 6 attempts for general category candidates with an upper age limit of 32 years. OBC candidates have nine attempts till 35 years of age while SC/ST candidates till 37 years of age.

The petitioners in the present case approached the Supreme Court contending that they failed to appear for the UPSC CSE Prelims 2020 due to the disruptions caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and thus, sought an extra attempt for the UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2021.

Interestingly, the Centre had earlier filed an affidavit opposing the plea.