The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that it has introduced a new aptitude test paper on English in the civil services exam on the suggestion of its experts’ panel.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw asked the commission to present the panel’s report by Sep 19, the next date of hearing.
The court’s direction came on a petition challenging the new pattern for English paper in the preliminary examination for civil services.
The court was informed that the new system had been approved by the government.
Petitioner Dina Nath Batra said that the new pattern deprived a vast majority of Indians who had studied in Hindi medium or any Indian language’s medium from fairly competing in the exam.
The public interest litigation (PIL) challenged a new system of the Union Public Service Commission making ‘English Language Comprehension Skills’ a compulsory topic.
Filing its response, the UPSC said: “The new format of civil services (preliminary) examination is evolved through a process of intense review of the examination system by an expert committee and the new system had been approved by the government.”
The UPSC sought the dismissal of the petition and said: “The scope of judicial review in cases where a policy decision is taken pursuant to the recommendations of an expert committee is limited.”
