UPSC Extra Attempt: IAS aspirants plan protest on December 19, to file fresh petition in SC

NEW DELHI: The UPSC aspirants have been protesting demanding extra attempts in the IAS exam 2023 since 2020. After several requests and protests, the students have once again planned to stage a protest on December 19, according to a report.

Owing to the restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 lockdown and testing positive for coronavirus, several students could not appear in the UPSC CSE exam in 2020 and 2021. Following which, the students began requesting the government and commission for an extra attempt in the next IAS exam.

Aspirants also filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an additional attempt. The apex court in March this year asked the Centre to consider the representation of some aspirants, who could not appear in the UPSC civil services main exam due to COVID-19. However, the Centre in its response told the SC that additional attempts for these candidates are “not possible”.

Now, the aspirants have decided to file a fresh petition at the Supreme Court for extra attempt and age relaxation.

Also read | 1,472 IAS posts, 864 for IPS officers vacant: Centre in Lok Sabha

Earlier in July, Union minister Jitendra Singh told Lok Sabha that the age relaxation matter was considered after the Supreme Court judgment and “it has not been found feasible to change the existing provisions regarding number of attempts and age-limit in respect of the Civil Services exam”.

Of the 748 candidates recommended by the UPSC on the basis of the civil services examination-2021 (CSE), 91 candidates could not be allocated to any service, Singh told the Lok Sabha during the Parliament winter session.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) declared the UPSC CSE Mains exam 2022 recently. UPSC exam 2023 is conducted annually to select officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) and others.

In another written reply, the Lok Sabha was informed that there is a vacancy of 1,472 IAS officers, 864 IPS officers and 1,057 IFS officers. The UPSC declared the UPSC CSE Mains exam 2022 recently.