Appearing before a Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju said he received information late on January 21 about the government’s unwillingness.
The court asked Mr. Raju to put the submission on record in an affidavit. The case is scheduled again for January 25. In previous hearings, the government had been telling the court that a decision to grant another chance for the UPSC aspirants was under active consideration.
The petition was filed by several who had appeared in the prelims on October 4, 2020. They had sought another shot at the exams in view of the “innumerable, inevitable circumstances suffered by them due to the pandemic, which prevailed in the entire country during the crucial period of their preparation and even on the date of examination”.
They said some of them were even rendering services as corona warriors, while others were dealing with infection in the family, physical and mental trauma and even lack of minimal proper infrastructure to prepare for the exams and loss of income, making it difficult to even survive during the pandemic.
