Civil Services (Main) Examination Will Be Held As Per Schedule, Says UPSC

States have been asked to ensure that no inconvenience is caused to candidates, the Union Public Service Commission said in a statement.

Civil Services (Main) examination, 2021 to be conducted as per schedule from Friday (PTI file)

New Delhi: The Civil Services (Main) Examination will be held as per schedule on January 7, 8, 9, 15, and 16, the Union Public Service Commission said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the UPSC said it had asked the state governments to ensure that no inconvenience was caused to the candidates and examination functionaries in their movement amid restrictions due to rising Covid-19 cases.

"After carefully reviewing the situation prevailing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Commission has decided to conduct the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2021 as per schedule i.e. on 7th, 8th, 9th, 15th and 16th January, 2022," it said in a statement.

"States have been asked to ensure that no inconvenience is caused to candidates, examination functionaries in their movement. Candidates' e-admit cards, identity cards of examination functionaries to be used as movement passes," the statement said.

The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- to select the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, among others.

Earlier this week, some candidates had filed a plea in the Delhi High Court seeking a postponement of the Civil Services (Mains) exam. 

The petition mentioned that most of the centres for the exam were in metro cities, which are densely populated, and is witnessing an increase in Covid-19 cases. "This increases our risk of getting infected and for many candidates, it is also the last attempt," the petition stated.

"Further, there is no proper pre-examination testing. Temperature checks can be cheated by taking paracetamol. If few candidates attempt examination with Covid, then it might result in infecting all candidates as they have to spend 6 hours writing papers in same room. Further, once infected, candidates will be prohibited from writing subsequent papers as per UPSC policy. They also risk spreading to others including their families," the petition further said, Live Law reported.