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Claiming that despite orders being in place for special arrangements for candidates showing symptoms of Covid-19 virus, he was restrained from writing 4 papers of the Civil Services Mains Examination-2021, a candidate recently moved the Allahabad High Court seeking an additional chance to write them.

Abhinav Mishra, through his writ petition, has also sought Court's direction to the Union Government and Union Public Service Commission to allow him an extra attempt for appearing in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2022, alleging that it was his last attempt in the Examination of 2021 due to the age bar.

The matter came up before the bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary on Wednesday, however, the bench deferred the hearing to March 30, 2022, directing Mishra's counsel to provide a copy of the Special Leave Petition pending before the Supreme Court for the same cause of action, on the next date of hearing.

Mishra had qualified for the Prelims Examination of the UPSC-2021 and was eligible to write the Mains which was scheduled to be held from January 7, 2022.

As per Mishra's plea, UPSC issued a press release on January 5, 2022, which contained the fact that the arrangement of two surplus examination rooms at the examination center had to be made for accommodating the candidates showing the Covid-19 symptoms. Despite this, being a responsible citizen, he got himself completely vaccinated with the dosages of COVAXIN, before appearing in the Mains Examination on 7th January 2022.

However, Mishra fell sick on 10th January 2022 and started showing symptoms of Covid-19, Corona Virus. As his next exam was on January 15th, allegedly he contacted the authorities via Email and informed them about his grievances but he received no response. 

He has further alleged that thereafter, when he reached the exam center on January 15th, he was restrained to enter the premises as he had Covid-19 symptoms due to which he could not write his 4 remaining papers. 

Against this backdrop, Mishra has sought relief from the High Court. The matter will be next heard on March 30, 2022.

Case Title: Abhinav Mishra v. UOI and Another