IAS aspirants plan protest on Dec 19 for UPSC Extra attempt, to file fresh petition in SC

Since 2020, UPSC candidates have been protesting for additional IAS exam attempts in 2023. According to a report, the students have once again decided to conduct a protest on December 19, following multiple petitions and demonstrations.

Due to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 shutdown and coronavirus testing, numerous students were unable to take the UPSC CSE exam in 2020 and 2021. Students then proceeded to petition the government and commission for an additional attempt at the subsequent IAS examination.

Additionally, candidates petitioned the Supreme Court for a second opportunity. In March of this year, the Supreme Court urged the Centre to consider the representation of candidates who were unable to take the UPSC civil services main examination due to COVID-19. In its response to the Supreme Court, the Centre stated that more attempts for these applicants are “impossible.”

91 UPSC civil services exam 2021 candidates could not be allocated to any service: Centre

Now, the hopefuls have decided to submit a new appeal to the Supreme Court requesting an additional attempt and age relaxation.

Earlier in July, Union minister Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha that the issue of age relaxation had been examined following the Supreme Court’s ruling and that “it has not been deemed feasible to change the existing provisions regarding the number of attempts and age limit for the Civil Services examination.”

During the winter session of Parliament, Singh informed the Lok Sabha that 91 candidates out of 748 recommended by the UPSC based on the civil services examination-2021 (CSE) could not be assigned to any position.

Recently, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced the UPSC CSE Mains exam for 2022. Exam 2023 is administered annually to select officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and other positions.

In a second written response, the Lok Sabha was informed that 1,472 IAS officers, 864 IPS officers, and 1,010 IFS officers are vacant. The UPSC just announced the UPSC CSE Mains test for 2022.