The Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2021 will begin according to schedule this Friday, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) said on Wednesday, even as a group of candidates filed a last-minute petition in the Delhi High Court, pleading for a postponement in light of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. The case has been listed for a hearing on Thursday.
The examination is scheduled to be held on January 7-9 and 15-16. India reported more than 58,000 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, double the number seen just four days ago, driven by the highly contagious nature of the Omicron variant.
In a statement, the UPSC said its decision to hold the examination as per the original schedule was taken “after carefully reviewing the situation prevailing due to the COVID-19 pandemic” and “keeping in view the restrictions and curbs being imposed by the governments to contain the disease”. It urged the State governments to make public transport operational and to ensure that no inconvenience is caused to candidates and examination functionaries in their movement, especially those coming from containment or micro-containment zones. If needed, candidates’ e-Admit Cards and the ID cards of functionaries should be used as movement passes, it said.
On the eve of the first examination, the Delhi HC will hear a postponement plea filed by a bunch of candidates who have cleared their preliminary examination and are now preparing to appear for the main papers. They said they were forced to approach the court as they not only run the “imminent risk of getting infected and getting threat to their life, but also are at a risk of losing out their valuable attempt, which for some candidates is also a last attempt to give the examinations”.
The plea said the UPSC was maintaining the schedule in complete disregard of their legal and fundamental rights despite strict advisories including weekend curfews, night curfews and shut downs. In order to complete the nine papers of the Main Examination, candidates said they would have to travel to their designated centres and stay near the area continuously for 10 days.
The plea argued that there is no proper pre-examination testing. “Temperature checks can be cheated by taking paracetamol. If a few candidates attempt examinations with COVID, it might result in infecting all candidates as they have to spend six hours writing papers in the same room,” it said. “Further, once infected, candidates will be prohibited from writing subsequent papers as per the UPSC policy. They also risk spreading to others including their families,” it said.
In its statement, the UPSC reiterated that guidelines related to personal hygiene of the candidates and examination functionaries, maintenance of social distancing and mandatory wearing of masks would be followed. Two surplus rooms will be set aside at every centre to accommodate candidates who show symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, breathlessness or fever so that they can write the examination under appropriate safety protocols, it said.
The Civil Services examinations are conducted annually in three stages — preliminary, main and interview — to select officers for the IAS, IFS and the IPS among others.
