UPSC civil services exam 2020 cannot be postponed, UPSC tells SC; next hearing on Sept 30

UPSC civil services exam 2020 cannot be postponed despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) told the Supreme Court today. The exam was initially scheduled for May 31 but was later postponed to October 4. The information was passed on when the top court was hearing a request seeking the postponement of civil services exam. The court will now hear the matter on September 30. 

Representing UPSC in the Supreme Court, Advocate Naresh Kaushik insisted that it was impossible to postpone the examination. He pointed out that the exam was supposed to be held on September 30 but was then pushed to October 4. Deferring the exam further would nullify the objective of conducting the exam for various government departments, he argued. 

In the last hearing, the top Court had asked advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, appearing for the petitioners, to serve a copy of the petition on the UPSC and Centre. Around 6 lakh aspirants are expected to appear in the UPSC Prelims this year, which will be conducted at various centres across 72 cities in the country. 

The matter was taken to the apex court by 20 civil services aspirants who sought for the crucial exam to be deferred by two to three months due to the flood situation in several parts of the country as well as COVID-19.

The aspirants said that the civil services exam, being a recruitment examination, is completely different from an academic examination and in the event of its postponement, there would not be any question of delay or loss of any academic session. 

Several other important exams, including the NEET medical entrance exam and the JEE for admission to the IITs, which too were postponed due to COVID-19, have already been held.