Who can benefit
However, the relaxation is only for this time and shall not be a precedent for any such change in the future, stated the affidavit. The case filed by some petitioners before the Supreme Court pleaded that they failed to appear for the UPSC CSE Prelims 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and sought an extra attempt for the UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2021.
Earlier, the Centre had opposed the plea but in its latest plea, it said the relaxation will be given only for this year. Moreover, the relaxation is being granted for CSE-2021 to those candidates who have not exhausted their number of attempts and age bar.
Currently, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which holds the Civil Services Exams. has limited the number of attempts for a candidate to six for general category candidates with an upper age limit of 32 years. For OBC candidates, the number of attempts is limited to nine till 35 years of age while for SC/ST candidates, it is till 37 years of age without any cap on their number of attempts.