‘No court will stay civil services exam': Delhi HC declines plea

The Delhi High Court has rejected a petition filed by Civil Service aspirants seeking a stay on the Civil Services Exam 2023.

The court stated that no court in the country would order a stay on the exams, even if there were valid reasons. The division bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Manoj Jain emphasized that the convenience of the candidates cannot take precedence over the interests of the lakhs of other candidates who have already taken the exams.

The petitioners had appeared for the civil services preliminary exams earlier this year and requested a reduction in the qualifying marks from 33% to 23% for the qualifying paper. They argued that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the exams, had asked out-of-syllabus questions in Paper 2, which focuses on aptitude, reasoning, and logic.

According to the petitioners, the questions in the preliminary exam were similar to those asked in the Common Admission Test (CAT) and the Indian Institutes of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT JEE), which were not in line with the UPSC syllabus.

The Delhi High Court, while declining to stay the exams, directed the candidates to pursue their case before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), where the matter is scheduled for a hearing on July 6. The candidates had initially approached the CAT, seeking interim relief, but the tribunal did not grant their request. Dissatisfied with this decision, they approached the Delhi High Court.