UPSC : Delhi HC Asks Central Administrative Tribunal For Prompt Decision On CSE Cut Off 2023

The Delhi High Court has issued a directive to the Central Administrative Tribunal, urging them to promptly address the pleas of UPSC aspirants who are requesting a reduction in the cut-off for the Civil Services Prelims 2023 results. These results were announced on June 12, 2023. The court has instructed the tribunal to engage with stakeholders and all relevant parties leading up to the upcoming hearing on July 6, 2023. The judges presiding over the petitions of the UPSC aspirants, Justice C Harishankar and Justice Manoj Jain, have emphasized the need for expeditious handling of the applications submitted by the civil services aspirants. However, they have refrained from issuing any interim orders thus far.

The UPSC aspirants had challenged the tribunal's June 9 order, which dismissed their request for a cut-off reduction without allowing arguments to be presented in court. In the meantime, the Delhi High Court has announced that it will hear a petition contesting the preliminary examination of the UPSC's Civil Services Examination 2023 on July 3. This petition, filed by 17 candidates for the civil service, seeks the cancellation of the Union Public Service Commission's Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2023, as well as a re-administration of the preliminary exam and general studies papers 1 and 2. The argument also challenges the press release issued by the UPSC on June 12 regarding the preliminary examination results. The petition requests the court to direct the commission to promptly provide the answer key.

On July 3, the judge ordered that the petition be listed for hearing. According to the petition, various state Public Service Commissions and other institutions, including IITs, NLUs, and IIMs, as well as the Delhi High Court in relation to the Delhi Judicial Service Examination, release provisional answer keys within a week of an exam's completion and welcome objections from candidates. After considering these objections and making necessary adjustments to the tentative answer key, they subsequently release the final answer key. Therefore, the petitioner is requesting the Commission to first release the provisional answer key and then the final one after considering objections raised by the candidates.