Delhi HC declines stay on UPSC mains exam application process

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to halt the application process for the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2023, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Justice Chandra Dhari Singh dismissed the application filed by some civil services aspirants seeking a direction to stay the "Detailed Application Form-1" dated July 10, 2023, issued by the UPSC for the examination.

"Application dismissed," the judge said.

The application formed a part of the petition filed by 17 unsuccessful aspirants seeking the answer key of the preliminary examination held earlier this year.

The petitioners earlier told the court they will not press at this stage their prayers to quash the UPSC civil services preliminary examination for this year.

On Thursday, the counsel for the petitioners urged the court to stay the invitation for applying for the mains examination, saying otherwise the main petition will become infructuous.

The lawyer emphasised that these tests were the "most important examination" for civil services aspirants.

Justice Singh responded to his contention, saying it was the "most important examination" for those who were "eligible" and "talented" and "not those who are filing writ petitions".

The petitioners have contended in the application that the UPSC's decision for inviting applications when the matter was pending in court was intended to subvert the process of law. They said it has been UPSC's strategy in the past to get court cases dismissed on account of passage of time.

"Meanwhile, the UPSC showing undue hastiness, with intention to subvert the process of law and justice and carry on its arbitrary practices in a covert manner, issued DAF-1 for mains examination of CSE-23 in such a way that the instant Writ Petition pending before this Hon’ble Court itself becomes infructuous, which has been strategy of the UPSC in the past and have successfully got cases dismissed on account of becoming infructuous due to non-compliance, passage of time or change in circumstances," the application said.

The petitioners have said in their main plea, filed through advocate Rajeev Kumar Dubey, that they were aggrieved by the "arbitrariness" of the Commission in conducting the entire recruitment cycle.

“Not providing to the students the answer key of an exam they have appeared for, not considering the representations of the candidates despite a particular time window being provided for the same, and asking questions, which are disproportionately vague, testing candidates' ability to answer only on the basis of guesswork, is not only arbitrary but defies all principles of fairness, logic and rationality,” it has said.

The petition has said when a competitive exam is conducted, the answer key to the multiple choice questions is prepared in advance so it can be released after the exam has been conducted, thereby giving the candidates a fair idea of evaluation.

However, in a recent press note of June 12, the UPSC said the “marks, cut off marks and answer keys of CS(P) Examination, 2023 will be uploaded on the Commission's website i.e. https://upsc.gov.in only after the entire process of the Civil Services Examination 2023 is over, that is, after the declaration of final result”, it has claimed.

The UPSC has opposed the petition on the ground that it was not maintainable before the high court and the petitioners should approach the administrative tribunal for relief.

On July 3, the court had given time to the UPSC to file its preliminary objections against a petition and listed it for hearing on July 26.

The petition has said almost all state Public Service Commissions and other authorities such as the High Court of Delhi in respect of Delhi Judicial Service Examination, IITs, NLUs and IIMs release the provisional answer key within a week of the conduct of an examination and invite objections from the candidates.

They then release the final answer key by modifying their provisional answer key based on the objections, it added.

With inputs from PTI