The center had replied to Supreme Court about the matter of giving an extra chance to civil service aspirants for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Prelims 2021, whose last attempt at cracking the prelims expired in October last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The development comes after some UPSC aspirants moved the Supreme Court, asking for an extra attempt in view of the pandemic.

Notably, the court was hearing the petition filed by 59 aspirants, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocate Anushree Prashit Kapadia. "An extra attempt is pertinent because their preparation has been severely disrupted on account of the COVID-19 situation and also because they will become age-barred next year", the plea stated.

Earlier on September 30, the top court had also proposed a corresponding extension of the upper age-limit.

The Court had said that it should not happen that the last date of filling the forms passes by, and further posted the matter for hearing in February. The bench has now asked the Centre to file an affidavit and serve it to the parties.