Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has announced a five-year age relaxation for candidates applying for government jobs, offering additional time to aspirants preparing for competitive examinations.

Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay approved the decision on Friday following representations from candidates seeking more time to become eligible for government recruitment, according to an official government release.

The relaxation will remain in force for five years. It will be granted over and above the age relaxations already available under existing government rules.

"The age relaxation will be over and above the extant norms that govern age relaxations," the government said in its statement.

The decision is expected to provide relief to lakhs of candidates who have been preparing for various government recruitment examinations but may have crossed the prescribed upper age limit for certain posts.

Age limits for government jobs vary depending on the post, recruitment rules and category of the applicant. Existing rules also provide specific relaxations for eligible categories of candidates.

With the latest announcement, eligible applicants will receive an additional five-year concession during the period for which the order remains in force.

However, the government has not yet provided details of how the relaxation will apply to individual recruitment examinations or whether it will cover all categories of government posts.

Candidates are advised to check the respective recruitment notifications and official government orders for details before applying.

With inputs of PTI