Centre refuses to share report on civil services exam's rejig

NEW DELHI: The Centre has refused to share a report of Baswan committee, that has suggested changes in civil services exam pattern.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had constituted the expert committee under the chairmanship of former Human Resource Development Secretary and retired IAS officer BS Baswan, to review the scheme of civil services examination, in August last year.

Replying to an RTI query, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said that the report of Baswan committee has been submitted to the government on August 11, 2016.

"No further information specific to your query can be shared at this stage," it said. The DoPT was asked to give copy of the report and details of action being taken on it.

The committee is understood to have recommended reduction in upper age limit of 32 years to appear in the civil services exam, official sources said.

Lakhs of aspirants appear in the civil services examination conducted annually by UPSC in three stages--preliminary, main and interview--to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

The Baswan committee has examined the plan of examination, number of papers, their structure and duration, marking scheme, weightage of marks and system of evaluation among others, the sources said.

As per existing norms a candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years to appear in the examination.

The upper age limit is further extendable for candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Classes, and those who had ordinarily been domiciled in Jammu and Kashmir during the period from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989.