Supreme Court to hear plea seeking postponement of UPSC prelims by 2-3 months in wake of COVID-19

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a plea seeking postponement of the Civil Services (Prelims) exams scheduled to be held on October 4 in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases all across the country. .The petition filed through Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava urges the court to quash the revised calendar issued by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) stating that the seven-hour long offline exam will be held on October 4. It further prays for the postponement of the exam by two or three months till the pandemic has subsided..The Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna today granted liberty to the petitioners to serve an advance copy of the plea to UPSC and the Central government..The matter will be heard on September 28..The petitioners have stated that the decision of UPSC to conduct the exam violates their rights under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution to practice their chosen profession/occupation of serving the public..Citing fear risk of illness or death, the petitioners say that they may not be able to appear for the exam on October 4. It is further stated that the decision of UPSC fails to meet the ‘necessity’ prong of the test of proportionality..It is contended that being a recruitment examination, UPSC is altogether different from an academic examination. Thus, in the event of its postponement, there would not be a question of delay or loss of academic session. The plea states,."About 6 lakh aspirants (including the Petitioners herein) are likely to appear in the captioned Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, which is a 7 Hours Offline Examinations, in very few centres at 72 Cities across India. Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases are increasing in India at an alarming rate of more than 80 thousand cases per day. The deadly pandemic COVID-19 has already affected more than 40 Lakh people in India and the situation is worsening by every passing day."Plea filed in Supreme Court.Moreover, it is averred that underprivileged students will be forced to suffer utmost injustice and deprivation if the exam is held as per schedule. "Such class-based discrimination being meted out by the impugned Revised Calendar, is flagrantly violative of the fundamental rights of the Petitioners herein and other similarly situated aspirants, as enshrined within Article 14 of Constitution of India.".The petitioners have maintained that states like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have already cancelled/indefinitely postponed their State Public Service Examinations, citing the COVID-19 crisis..[Read order]