Relax age limit, grant extra attempt to Civil Service aspirants: Stalin urges Modi

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday, February 7, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider the civil service aspirants' demand for an extra attempt with corresponding age relaxation to all those who exhausted their last attempt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taking up the issue with Modi, Stalin said aspirants of various exams conducted by the Centre including civil service examinations, who had exhausted their last attempts due to the pandemic, have been requesting for the past two years to extend the age limit to appear for the examination as a one-time measure, as stated in a report by PTI. 

The minister's appeal

"The Parliament Standing Committee has also recommended to consider sympathetically the demand of the Civil Service aspirants and to grant an extra attempt with corresponding age relaxation to all aspirants," the Chief Minister said in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, a copy of which was made available to the media as well.

Also, he pointed out to the Apex Court's advice in various cases to take a lenient view in granting an extra attempt under Regulation 4 of the Indian Administrative Service Regulations, 1955. "More than 150 Members of Parliament across various parties have supported the cause of the aspirants. Further, in this connection, I wish to point out that in Tamil Nadu, orders have been issued raising the age limit by two years for the aspirants for State Service examinations taking into account the effects of pandemic," he said citing the GO dated September 13, 2021.

The Central government has also recently granted a relaxation of three years beyond the respective prescribed upper age limit for all categories of candidates as a one-time measure for the recruitment of Constable (General Duty) in Central Armed Police Forces Examinations, 2022, conducted by the Staff Selection Commission.

"This is a one-time relaxation and it will not cause any monetary burden to the exchequer but at the same time open a huge opportunity to thousands of youth who aspire to join the civil service. Therefore, I appeal to you to consider this favourably, and do the needful in granting an extra attempt by invoking Regulation 4 of the Indian Administrative Service Regulations, 1955, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic," he said in the letter.