Delhi High Court: EWS Candidates Not Entitled to SC/ST/OBC-Type Age Relaxation in UPSC Exams
The Delhi High Court has held that EWS candidates cannot claim parity with SC/ST/OBC candidates in matters of age relaxation and number of attempts in UPSC examinations.
The Court gave the ruling in a batch of petitions filed by EWS candidates. They challenged the denial of age relaxation and extra attempts in civil services and other Central Government recruitments.
The petitioners assailed three measures. These were the DoPT Office Memorandum dated January 31, 2019, the 2022 FAQs, and the Civil Services Examination, 2024 notification issued by UPSC.
The petitioners argued that the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 granted 10% reservation to EWS candidates.
However, they said the government did not extend similar relaxations in age and attempts. They pointed out that SC/ST/OBC candidates receive such benefits.
According to them, this violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
The main issue was whether the absence of age relaxation and extra attempts for EWS candidates made the policy discriminatory and unconstitutional.
A Division Bench of Justice Anil Kshetarpal and Justice Amit Mahajan heard the matter.
The Bench held that the Union Government’s policy did not suffer from arbitrariness or constitutional infirmity.
The Court observed that reservation and relaxation are policy matters. Therefore, the State can decide the extent and nature of such benefits.
It also held that the petitioners failed to show any enforceable right. In particular, they could not claim age relaxation or extra attempts merely on the basis of parity with other reserved categories.
The Court acknowledged the socio-economic basis of the EWS classification.
Even then, it declined to interfere with the present framework.
The Delhi High Court dismissed the batch of petitions.
It also refused to issue a writ of mandamus directing the government to grant age relaxation or extra attempts to EWS candidates.
The ruling clarifies an important point. EWS reservation does not automatically entitle candidates to the same concessions available to SC/ST/OBC candidates in UPSC examinations.
