Age limit for Civil service exam to stay: Centre
The Centre has decided against providing any relaxation to candidates appearing in the Civil Services Examination (CSE). Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said that it would be impossible to change the rules regarding the number of retakes and the examination's age limit. The demand by some candidates was previously considered after the matter was brought to the Supreme Court during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supreme Court's intervention puts the matter for consideration
"Based on the judgments passed by Supreme Court, the matter was considered and it has not been found feasible to change the existing provisions regarding the number of attempts and age limit in respect of the civil services examination," he said in Lok Sabha. Singh, however, admitted that the recruitment cycle of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) got delayed due to COVID-19.
Crucial dates for determining age
For the examinations being advertised in 2022, the SSC has decided to fix the crucial date for determining age as on January 1, 2022. In the normal course, the crucial date for determining the age for these examinations would have been August 1, 2022, or January 1, 2023, depending on the schedule of the conduct of tier-II examinations, he added.
Minimum educational qualifications for CSE
As per the recent notification, any degree (graduation) holder is eligible for the exam. It said the final year students can also apply. The aspirants can be from any of the Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India, educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament, and institutions declared as universities by UGC Act.
Minimum age to appear in the exam
The minimum age to appear for CSE is 21 years. This means that the candidate must have at least 21 years on the decided determining date of the given year. For example, if the candidate is appearing for 2022 prelims, he/she should be above 21 years of age by January 1, 2022. (August 1, 2022, or January 1, 2023, under normal circumstances).
Upper age limit for the exam
The upper age limit will also be calculated on January 1, 2022. This means if the candidate is appearing for 2022 prelims, he/she should be below the mentioned maximum limit by January 1, 2022. The upper limit is fixed differently for different categories. For the General category, OBC, SC/ST, Defence personnel, Ex-servicemen, and differently-abled the limit is 32, 35, 37, 35, 37, and 42.
Relaxation for different categories
Apart from the mentioned limits, OBC/ SC/ ST candidates will get the benefit of cumulative age relaxation. This means age relaxations get added in special cases, say, for example, if the person is OBC + Ex-servicemen, he will get an extension of 3 + 5 = 8 years, ie his upper age limit now stands at 40 years.
Number of attempts for an aspirant
There are some restrictions on the number of times this exam can be taken, which again is different for different categories. The number of attempts for the exam in General Category, OBC, SC/ST is six, nine, and unlimited, respectively, till the maximum age limit. There will be extra attempts for physically handicapped /disabled candidates belonging to the General category.
