No upper age relaxation for JK applicants in UPSC civil services exam this year

Unlike last year, there will be no upper-age relaxation for applicants taking the civil services examination 2020 who are domicile of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir between 1980 and 1989, according to a notification issued on Wednesday.

The age relaxation for other categories will continue.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced 796 vacancies in the country's bureaucracy to be filled through the civil services examination 2020, which will be held on May 31, the notification said.

According to last year's civil services exam notification, the upper-age limit of 32 years to take the test was further relaxable for up to a maximum of five years if a candidate had ordinarily been domiciled in the state of Jammu and Kashmir during the period from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989.

There is no mention of such age relaxation in this year's exam notification.

The erstwhile J-K state has been bifurcated into two union territories-- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh -- with effect from October 31, 2019.

"A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on the 1st of August, 2020 i.e., he must have been born not earlier than 2nd August, 1988 and not later than 1st August, 1999," this year's notification said.

This upper-age limit is further relaxed for up to a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe; up to a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to other backward classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates, among others, it said.

The UPSC will recruit officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) and Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS), among others through the civil services examination 2020, the notification said.

This is probably the last time that the officers of IRTS, IRAS and IRPS are being recruited through the civil services examination after the amalgamation of the existing eight railway services into the one -- Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS), officials said.

The commission may recruit IRMS officers from the next years onward. they said.

The number of vacancies to be filled through the examination is expected to be approximately 796 which include 24 posts reserved for persons with benchmark disability category, i.e. three for candidates of blindness and low vision; nine for deaf and hard of hearing; eight for locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy, among others, according to the notification.

"Reservation will be made for candidates belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes, the economically weaker sections and persons with benchmark disability in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the government," it said.

The civil services examination is conducted annually by the UPSC in three phases -- preliminary, main and interview.

The facility of withdrawal of application is available for those candidates who do not want to appear for civil services (preliminary) examination.

"UPSC has no provision to refund any fee amount paid by candidates, so in case of successful withdrawal of application the fees will not be refunded," the notification said.

Candidates are required to apply online. The deadline is March 3 till 6:00 P.M. after which the link will be disabled, the UPSC said. 

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