In a significant ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court of India intervened on behalf of Rakshit Shivam Prakash, a civil services exam candidate from 2014, directing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to conduct a fresh medical examination nearly a decade after he was deemed “temporarily unfit” due to his obesity. Prakash, who had ranked 93 in the 2014 civil services examination, was unable to secure his position due to a “temporarily unfit” status based on his Body Mass Index (BMI) of 31.75, which exceeded the prescribed limit of 30.
Utilizing its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, which allows the court to pass any order necessary to do complete justice in any case, the bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal decided to grant Prakash another opportunity to meet the physical fitness requirements. The court ordered the UPSC and other involved parties, including the Department of Personnel and Training, to reschedule the medical test initially set for July 14, 2015, which Prakash missed.
However, the court declined Prakash’s request for immediate allocation of service and associated benefits from the 2014 batch, stating, “At the outset we reject the prayer made by the petitioner for allocation of service and consequential benefits against Civil Services Examination, 2014.” The justices emphasized that, should Prakash pass the forthcoming medical re-examination, he would not be entitled to claim a position or seniority from the 2014 batch. Instead, his service would commence from the date of his potential appointment.
