Woman tops UPSC civil service exams

New Delhi: Two top slots in the coveted Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Examinations 2011 have been achieved by women candidates.

According to the results announced on May 4, Shena Aggarwal, who holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here, has topped the examination. Whereas, Rukmani Riar, a Master of Arts (Social Entrepreneurship) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, has got second rank.
    
While the third position is bagged by Prince Dhawan, who had done Master of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
    
The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2011 was conducted on June 12. As many as 4,72,290 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 2,43,003 wrote the test.
    
According to a release by the Department of Personnel and Training, 11,984 candidates were declared qualified for the main written examination held in October-November, 2011 out of which 2,417 candidates were selected for the personality test conducted in March-April, 2012.
    
Finally a total of 910 candidates 715 male and 195 female have been selected for appointments to various central services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others.
    
The list of selected candidates includes 420 General (including 21 physically challenged), 255 Other Backward Classes (including 8 physically challenged), 157 Scheduled Castes (including four physically challenged) and 78 Scheduled Tribes candidates among others, it said.     

The result also showcases the pan-Indian distribution of successful candidates in the examination. Among the top 25 candidates, there are candidates claiming domicile from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
    
The top 25 candidates include alumni from some of the premier educational institutions of the country, including AIIMS, IIM and IITs. "An alumnus of London School of Economics also figures in the top 25," it said.
    
The family background of top 25 candidates show diverse representation from all walks of the life which include farmer, teacher, businessman, army personnel, low and middle level government servants, doctors, advocate, professor and civil servants.
    
Among them, six have made it to the merit lift in their first attempt; seven in second attempt; nine in third attempt; and one each in fourth, fifth and sixth attempts. As many as 12 have already been recommended to services other than IAS on the basis of Civil Services Examinations of previous years.
    
Of the top 25 candidates - 13 appeared from Delhi; three from Jaipur, two each from Mumbai & Chandigarh; and one each from Hyderabad, Chennai, Dispur, Patna and Jammu Centres.
    
UPSC, which conducts the examination, has opened a 'Facilitation Counter' near the Examination Hall Building in its campus.
    
Candidates can obtain any information or clarification regarding their examinations on the working days between 10 am -5 pm in person or over telephone nos 011- 23385271, 23381125,  23098543.
    
Results are also available on the UPSC's Website (http//www.upsc.gov.in.). "However, marks are likely to be available on the website within 15 days from the date of declaration of results", the release added. 

UPSC panel reviewing format of civil services exam: Govt

New Delhi: The government said a committee appointed by the Union Public Service Commission is reviewing the present format of the prestigious civil services examination held annually.
 
"UPSC has appointed a committee of experts, headed by ex-University Grants Commission chairman Arun S. Nigavekar to review the existing structure of civil services (main) examination and suggest necessary changes," Minister of State for Personnel and Public Grievances V Narayanasamy told Lok Sabha in a written reply.
 
However, there is no proposal to introduce changes in the examination format at present, he said.
 
In reply to another question, the minister said, "There is no proposal to increase the number of attempts to 10 for all candidates appearing in the civil services examination."
 
As per the present format, the maximum number of attempts one can make in the examination is four for  general candidates, seven for aspirants from other backward classes and no restriction for candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe category.

No re-evaluation of UPSC exam papers as no rule for it: HC

New Delhi: The UPSC cannot re-evaluate the civil service examination answer sheets due to absence of any rule for it, the Delhi High Court has held, while dismissing a plea to re-assess a candidate's answer scripts of the 2006 main examination.

Dismissing the civil service aspirant Syed Shabbir Ali's plea, a bench of justices B D Ahmed and V K said, "As regards re-evaluation of the answer sheet of petitioner Ali, admittedly, there is no rule of UPSC entitling a candidate to seek re-evaluation of his answer sheets"

"We, therefore, find no merit in the contention that the petitioner is entitled to re-evaluation of his answer sheets," the bench said.

The bench was hearing Ali's plea challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal's (CAT) order which had dismissed his plea for re-evaluation of his answer scripts in the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2006.

In his petition, Ali had sought the bench's direction to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to declare him successful candidate in the first rank in the Civil Service (Main) Examination 2006.

According to the petition, Ali had cleared the 2006 preliminary examination but had not been able to clear the main examination as he had not done well in English, a compulsory paper.

The English paper was a qualifying paper, for candidates of all categories, for the Civil Services Examinations 2006, as per the petition.  

During the course of hearing, the bench had directed UPSC to re total his marks in English paper and inform the court about the cut-off marks for qualifying it.

"On perusal of the record, we found that the raw marks obtained by the petitioner in English paper have been moderated and resultantly, he has been awarded higher marks, but despite that he was well below the qualifying cut-off which UPSC had prescribed in respect of the English paper. We also found that all the  answers had been evaluated by the examiner and there was no totaling mistake," the bench said

"We are, therefore, satisfied that no mistake has been committed by the respondent in evaluating the answer sheet of the petitioner in respect of English paper and the petitioner has failed to obtain qualifying marks in the said paper," the bench said and dismissed Ali's petition.