The Delhi High Court has held that aspirants belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) cannot claim parity with the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories for seeking age relaxation or enhanced attempts in relation to direct recruitment or employment under the central government.
A Bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Amit Mahajan observed that the deprivation faced by EWS individuals was not comparable to caste-based discrimination, and the policy not to extend age and attempt relaxation to the EWS category was not "mala fide, arbitrary or unconstitutional" merely because it accorded different relaxations to different reserved categories.
The Bench passed the judgment while dismissing a petition by certain individuals belonging to the EWS category seeking the same relaxation in the upper age limit and number of attempts as available to candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in direct recruitment or employment under the central government.
Under UPSC's notice of examination dated February 19, 2019, candidates belonging to SC/ST categories were allowed age relaxation of up to a maximum of five years and candidates belonging to the OBC category were allowed age relaxation of up to a maximum of three years. It also provided certain relaxation to them with respect to the maximum number of attempts.
