Blitz Bureau
THE Supreme Court recently invoked its plenary jurisdiction under Article 142 in the case of a UPSC aspirant who qualified the exam and interview stages, but failed to clear the medial test and was accordingly declared ‘temporarily unfit’ due to obesity for services.
The top court directed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to conduct a fresh physical fitness test for Rakshit Shivam Prakash, who ranked 93 in the civil services exam held in 2014 but lost out due to “unacceptable” Body Mass Index (BMI). The BMI of the candidate was at 31.75, which is higher than the prescribed standard of 30. He was declared “temporarily unfit” and consequently, denied employment. He could not take part in the second medical test scheduled on July 14, 2015.
The Bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal said, “Having considered the facts and circumstances of the case, we consider it appropriate to grant a limited relief. This will be to direct the respondents (UPSC and others including the Department of Personnel and Training) to reschedule the re-medical test that was to be conducted on July 14, 2015, which the petitioner unfortunately missed.”
The Bench, however, rejected the plea seeking a direction to the UPSC for allocation of service to the person with all consequential benefits at par with other similarly placed candidates of the 2014 test. “At the outset we reject the prayer (allocation of service) made by the petitioner for allocation of service and consequential benefits against Civil Services Examination, 2014,” Justice Narasimha said in the judgment.
