UPSC Civil Services Examinations: Disabled candidates to get seven not ten chances, directs SC

UPSC Civil Services Examinations: Disabled candidates to get seven not ten chances, directs SC In an order, the apex court on Tuesday said that the disable candidates cannot seek extra preferences on the grounds of other backward caste (OBC) category, and they will get seven not 10 chances to appear in the civil service examination. The differently-abled candidates will get seven attempts in the examinations as per the government policy of 2007, said the bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and Ashok Bhushan. 

What has the Supreme Court said?

"The present case is not a case of treating unequal s as equal. It is a case of extending concessions and relaxations to the physically handicapped candidates belonging to general category as well as physically handicapped belonging to OBC category. Physically handicapped category is a category in itself, a person who is physically handicapped, be it physically handicapped of a general category or OBC category, suffering from similar disability has to be treated alike in extending the relaxation and concessions," noted the bench in its judgement. The bench further added that "no discrimination or arbitrariness can be found" when differently-abled candidates belonging to both the categories are granted seven attempts to sit in the examination. The top court further mentioned that the provisions for reservation was a matter of government policy which is constituted after dealing with relevant materials. "It is not in the domain of the courts to embark upon an inquiry as to whether a particular public policy is wise and acceptable or whether the better policy could be evolved. The court can only interfere if the policy framed is absolutely capricious and non-informed by reasons, or totally arbitrary, offending the basic requirement of the Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution," it noted,