UPSC candidates, who exhausted their final attempt to take test last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, will be able to sit for the exams one more time, only if they will be able to prove they are within the eligible age limit, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Friday.

According to media reports, the Centre said, “This relaxation for the candidates… shall be a one-time relaxation only and shall apply only for appearing in CSE-2021 and shall not be treated as a precedent.”

A bench of Judges Dinesh Maheshwari and AM Khanwilkar said, “We appreciate your stand” and adjourned the proceedings for the day.

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Rachna Singh, who has kept studying for one of the most competitive exams in the country administered by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, requesting a further opportunity to attempt the test. Singh stated that, “the devastation caused by the pandemic left many civil service candidates unable to prepare well.”

In an affidavit earlier, the Centre claimed that the petitioner’s argument that the candidates could not prepare well for the examination due to stress in the locking necessitated by the pandemic was not entirely legitimate as they were given extra time to prepare by postponing the preliminary examination to October 4 from May 31, 2020 .

Last year, in September, the Supreme Court told the Centre and the UPSC to consider offering an extra chance to applicants who otherwise had their final attempt in 2020 with a similar extension to the upper age limit.

But, on 22 January, the Centre stated that it was not in favour of giving the applicants one more chance as it would create a “cascading effect, adverse to the overall functioning and level-playing field required for the public examination system.”

According to government statistics, at least 486,952 candidates appeared for the examination on October 4.

The main exam for civil services 2020 took place from January 8 to 17 . About 10,000 applicants were shortlisted for the main exam on the basis of the marks they obtained in the preliminary exam.

The notification for the UPSC exam is expected to be issued on February 10 this year.