Ahmedabad: A UPSC aspirant who fought a year-long legal battle to secure a chance to appear for the civil services mains and personal interview has now approached Gujarat High Court seeking disclosure of his marks and permission to inspect his answer books.Jaymin Patel, an aspirant for Indian Forest Service (IFS), filed the petition after Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) informed him that he had not been recommended for selection. The commission, however, did not disclose his marks in the mains examination or personal interview.Patel then invoked Right to Information Act seeking details of his scores and performance in mains examination, but his request was rejected.According to submissions by Patel’s counsel, UPSC’s public information officer told him that records showed Patel had not applied for the UPSC 2025 batch and, therefore, was not eligible to obtain information relating to that examination.Patel’s legal battle began after he appeared for UPSC preliminary examination in 2024. He missed IFS mains cutoff by 2.06 marks. Against the general category cutoff of 100.35, he scored 98.29. He contended that his answer to question No. 25 had not been evaluated correctly.The answer key was made available to him on the day the final results for the 2024 batch were declared in May 2025. Patel subsequently approached the high court, challenging the answer key and seeking directions to UPSC to rectify the error and award him the 2.06 marks needed to qualify for the mains.The court prima facie found merit in his case and permitted him to appear in mains examination conducted in Nov 2025 for the 2025 batch.His mains result was opened in the courtroom in March this year, when he was found to have qualified for personal interview. UPSC opposed his participation, arguing that he had crossed the age limit applicable to the 2025 batch. The high court, however, directed the commission to permit him to appear for the interview.Following the preliminary hearing, Justice Nirzar Desai issued notices to the Centre, UPSC and its Central Public Information Officer, seeking their replies by Oct 26.
