‘Expert committee to study UPSC’s language rule’

Kumar had argued that the rule indicated that the UPSC favoured “convent-educated” candidates coming from privileged backgrounds over those who had studied in vernacular-medium schools and were taught English by teachers who were not fluent with the language themselves.

UPSC’s counsel Rui Rodrigues,however,submitted that the commission nursed no biases and the candidates had the option of answering the interview in their choice of language if they wrote the written examination in the same language.

In an affidavit submitted by Rodrigues to the court on February 3,M Mukhopadhyay,under-secretary,UPSC had stated,“A candidate who is capable of clearing the written part of the civil services examination by writing as many as seven descriptive papers of different subjects apart from language papers in English is expected to have adequate communication skills to express oneself before the interview board.” The UPSC had also stated in its affidavit that allowing candidates who appear in the written examination in English to opt for another language in the interview would make the process of the interview cumbersome and require a number of interpreters.

Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice SJ Vajifdar gave the committee appointed by the UPSC time to take stock of the issue and adjourned the case till June 23.