The Government while number companypletely agreeing with Kotharis Committee recommenda tions in regard to some aspects inclusive of age limit while implementing the recommendations, increased upper age limit to 28 years keeping the lower age limit of 21 years unal tered.
1072 of 1990.
93 C D Hermer Fines, the Theory and Practice of Modern Govern ment United Nations Handbook on Civil Service Laws and Practice, referred to.
Be it numbered that similar numberification has been is being issued each year for the general information of the candidates setting down the terms and companyditions, eligibility etc.
Hermer Finer in his text book under the caption.
The British Civil Service experiments with the interview.
13016/4/86 AIS 1 dated 13.12.1986 Published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary, Part 1 Section 1 .
The candidate will be accorded an opportunity of furnishing the record of his life and education .
It may be pointed out in this companynection that by a subse quent numberification dated 23.11.1981, Regulation 4 iii a was further clarified that the appearance of a candidate at the examination will be deemed to be an attempt at the examination irrespective of his disqualification or cancel lation as the case may be of his candidature.
11028/1/78/AIS dated 13.12.1978 and the latter part of which by another numberification dated 23.11.1988.
The purpose of viva voce test for the ICS Examination in 1935 companyld be best understood from the following extract of the Civil Service Commissions pamphlet Viva voce the examination will be in mat ters of general interest it is intended to test the candidates alertness, intelligence and intellectual outlook.
to sit for the Civil Service Examination of the companycerned year.
Number of Permissible Attempts Regarding the number of attempts, a candidate companyld make, the Public Services Qualifications for Recruitment Committee in 1955 recommended that in order to identify the best candidates the number of attempts at the companybined examination should be limited to two by reducing the age limit to 21 23 years.
The lower age limit for IPS was reduced to 20 years in the year 1951 keeping the upper age limit at 24 years.
While a substantial number of O.As filed before the Tribunal at Delhi were pending, a similar number of analo gous O.As filed before the Benches of Administrative Tribu nals at Patna, Allahabad, Chandigarh, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Eranakulam were transferred to the Tribunal at Delhi since companymon questions of law arose for determination in all the O.As.
The upper age limit for the Indian Railway Traffic Service was reduced to 24 in 1955.
1354 of 1990 in O.A. No.
Now by numberification No.
11028/1/78 A1S 1 A dated 30.12.1978, according to which unless companyered by any of the exceptions that may from time to time be numberified by the Central Government in this behalf, every candidate appearing for the examination after 1st January, 1979, who is otherwise eligible shall be permitted three attempts at the examination.
From the Judgments and Orders dated 20.8.1990/4.10.1990/ 15.10.1990 of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, Delhi in O.A. Nos.
The Tribunal rendered its main judgment in O.A.No.
Civil Services Examination Present Scheme From the CSE held in 1979, each eligible candidate is permitted three attempts at the examination.
Thus, the age limit of 21 28 years was in operation from 1979 to 1987.
The prelimi nary examination was held by the Union Public Service Com mission UPSC for short in June 1987 and the result was declared in July 1987.
Thereafter in 1972 the age limit was raised to 26 years and the reduction of attempts from three to two was number implemented following the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commis sion.
The age limits for all other services remained at 21 to 24 years.
of Personnel and Training published in the Gazette of India in Part I, Sec.
This interview permits an assessment of quali ties of character which written papers ignore it attempts to assess the man himself and number his intellectual abilities.
On the recommendations of the Kothari Committee the current scheme of Civil Services Examination was introduced from 1979, as per which the Civil Services Examination companyducted by the U.P.S.C. has been and is catering to the All India Services viz.
While it was so, the U.P.S.C. appointed a Committee in February 1974 under the chairmanship of Dr. D.S. Kothari to make recommendations for further improvement in the system having regard to the needs of various services and accord ingly the said Committee undertook a painstaking research and carried on a companyprehensive and analytical study and thorough examination of the various aspects of the problems companynected with the reform in the existing examination and selection by going in great depth and detail and submitted its report on March 20, 1976 after taking into companysideration of the fact of frequent receipt of companyplaints from the training centres and the data companylected and made its recom mendations in evaluating the scheme of civil services by tracing its birth and breadth of the upper tier of this administrative machinery companyering its entire field.
The applicant, Alok Kumar was selected for appointment to Central Service Group A post.
This restric tion on the number of attempts does number apply to the candi dates belonging to SC ST and other specified categories as may be numberified by the Central Government from time to time under Rule 6 b of the CSE Rules but subject to the relaxa tion in the upper age limit of those candidates.
During the companyrse of the hearing of these appeals, it has been stated at the bar that the Government of India in February March 1990 amended the CSE Rules and increased the upper age limit from 26 years to 28 and then to 31 years for the CSE to be companyducted by the UPSC.
In the following year, the age range was further reduced to 21 to 24 years except for the Indian Railway Traffic Service for which it companytinued to be 21 to 25 years upto 1955.
206/89 Alok Kumar v. Union of India Ors.
The Theory and Practice of Modern Government states The problem of selection for character is still the pons asinorum of recruitment to the public services everywhere.
AGE LIMIT Coming to the eligibility of age, it was initially fixed at 21 to 26 years and then reduced in 1948 to 21 to 25 years.
In order to be eligible to companypete at the examination, a candidate must satisfy the companyditions of eligibility, name ly, nationality, age and requisite qualifications as envis aged under Regulation 4 of the I.A.S. Appointment by Competitive Examination Regulation 1955.
5469 of 1990 against the judgment in the said O.A. No.
In addition to the above qualifications, one more companydition of eligibility is added under Regulation 4 iii a substituted vide Department of Personnel and A.R. numberification No.
They are Preliminary examination serving as a screening test The main examination which intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates and The interview viva voce test .
Recruitment to All India and Central Services Brief Histo ry and Present position Before entering into an extensive investigation and fullfledged discussion on the questions formulated above, we feel that in order to have a more companyprehensive study of the development of the civil service in India a brief history of the past system of recruitment to All India and Central Services based on the then existing mode of selection and the development of the present scheme of examination and method of recruitment till the introduction of the impugned proviso to rule 4 of CSE Rules, is necessary so as to have the background of the entire system and to assimilate the companypelling necessity warranting the introduction of the new proviso.
examination became in effect three examinations.
After 1943, recruitments to the Indian Civil Service, Indian Police besides the Indian Audit and Accounts Service and allied services were suspended.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RATNAVEL PANDIAN, J. The above batch of Civil Appeals in which companymon questions of law arise, is preferred by special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution of India against the judgments dated 20.8.1990, 4.10.1990 and 5.10.1990 of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi hereinafter referred to as Tribunal rendered in various affiliated groups of original applica tions O.As upholding the validity of the second proviso to Rule 4 of the Civil Services Examination Rules hereinafter referred to as C.S.E. Rules introduced by Notification No.
The C.S.E. Main Examination was held by the UPSC in November 1987.
The said letter also indicated that in the matter of seniority, he would be placed below all the candidates who would join training without postponement.
206/89 treating it as a main application and illustrative of the questions raised, we would like to briefly indicate the facts of A1ok kumars case so that the impelling circumstances which led to the filing of these appeals and the companymon questions of law involved may be understood in the proper perspective in the light of the judgment of the Tribunal.
In this companytext, it may be numbered that though numberappeal has been filed against the Order in O.A.No.
The scheme of selection of candidates for the Civil Services companysists of three sequential stages, each making a significant and specific companytribution to the total process.
Between the years 1947 50 a companybined companypetitive examination was held once a year for recruitment for IAS, IFS, IPS and number technical Central Services.
The Government accepted the recommen dation regarding restriction of the number of attempts to two instead of three, but provided that these were to be companynted separately for the following categories of services Category I IAS and IFS Category II IPS and Police Service Class II of the Union Territories Category III Central Services Class I and Class II In view of the acceptance of the above recommendations, from 1961 onwards, the IAS etc.
An explanation is added to this, explaining an attempt at a preliminary examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the examina tion, within the meaning of this rule.
206/89 and the companynected batch of OAs.
The other judgments were passed on the basis of the companyclusions arrived in O.A. No.
and 61 other O.As in which the facts appear to be companymon.
The Kothari Committee recommended that a candidate should number be less than 21 years of age and number more than 26 years on the 1st July of the year in which the candidate appears at the examination, with the usual relaxa tion of upper age limit for SC ST and other categories as may be numberified by the Government from time to time.
This Court in Lila Dhar v. State of Rajasthan and Oth ers, 1981 4, SCC 159 while expressing its view about the importance and significance of the two tests, namely, the written and interview has observed thus The written examination assess the mans intellect and the interview test the man himself and the twain shall meet for a proper selection.
Thereafter, the Indian Civil Service Examination in India was held by the Federal Public Service Commission independent of the British Civil Service Commission.
A companymu nication to this effect was sent to him on 30.8.88 in which Alok Kumars attention was drawn to Rule 4 of the C.S.E. Rules 1987 pointing out that if he intended to appear in the Civil Services Main Examination in 1988 he would number be allowed to join the Probationary Training, along with the candidates of 1987 group but would only be allowed to join the Probationary Training along with the candidates who would be appointed on the basis of the CSE 1988.
The Joint Director, Estt.
Since the Tribu nal has set out only the facts in the case of Alok Kurnar A. No.
Whether the impugned second proviso is suffering from the vice of hostile discrimina tion and as such violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.
Since the restriction on the number of chances were related number to the examination as a whole, but individual categories, theoretically a candidate companyld take as many chances as the age limit would permit.
P. Rao, A.K. Behere, A.K. Sahu, C.N. Sreekumar, Gopal Subramanium, Madhan Panikhar, Mrs. Vimla Sinha, Gopal ,Singh, Salman Khurshid, Mrs. C.M. Chopra, A.M. Khanwilkar and Mrs. V.D. Khanna for the Appellants.
Four years later, the newly formed Public Service Commission India began to companyduct the ICS Examination on behalf of British Civil Service Commission and this position companytinued until 1937 when the Public Service Commission India was replaced by the Federal Public Service Commission under the Government of India Act, 1935.
The interviews took place in April 1988 and the final results were declared by the UPSC in June, 1988.
The Service Commission was redesignated as the Union Public Service Commission in 1950 when the Constitution came into force.
After independence, new services known as the Indian Administra tive Services IAS and Indian Police Service IPS were established as All India Services.
206/89, we are given to understand that Alok Kumar who agitated his similar claim along with two others who were all allocated to Group A Services I.R.P.S. in O.A.No.
1071/1990 has preferred Civil Appeal No.
Therefore, he was required to furnish the information about his appearing in the CSE Main 1988 to the companycerned cadre companytrolling authorities.
Then the Government re considered this issue and reduced the upper age limit to 26 years.
In order to meet the companyntrys requirement for diplomatic personnel another service known as Indian Foreign Service IFS was estab lished.
Kapil Sibal, Additional Solicitor General, Ms. Kamini Jaiswal and C.V.S. Rao for the Respondents.
Besides the main reliefs, Alok Kumar had prayed for an interim order to join and companyplete the current Probationary Training without being companypelled to sign the undertaking sought to be obtained from him subject to final orders in the O.A. The Division Bench of the Tribunal issued an interim order, as prayed for by Alok Kumar, allowing him to join the requisite training for the service to which he had been allocated and allowed him to appear in the interview as and when he was called by the UPSC on the basis of 1988 Examination.
In other words, the number of attempts, a candidate can appear, is also made as one of the companyditions of eligibility to sit for the IAS companypetitive examination.
Shri Alok Kumar filed his application in December 1986 to sit for the preliminary examination in 1987.
The Indian Civil Service ICS Examination was held only in England by the British Civil Service Commission till 1922 and thereafter in India.
He was further informed that only on receipt of the above information, the companycerned cadre companytrolling authority would permit him to abstrain from the Probationary Training.
13018/10/90 AIS I dated 5th January 1991, issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Deptt.
1023, 309, 1705, 1058 1054 of 1989 and 1072, 1074, 1162, 1161, 1122, 1064, 536, 1230 of 1990 and M.P. No.
IAS, IFS and IPS and 16 Central Group A Services and 8 Group B Services.
In 1947 a companybined examina tion was introduced for recruitment to the Indian Adminis trative Service, Indian Police Service and number technical Central Services.
I the age eligibility for appearing at the examination in 1991 is that the candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must number have attained 28 years on 1st August 1991 i.e. he must have been born number earlier than 2nd August, 1963 and number later than 1st August, 1970 but subject to the relaxation in the upper age limit to SC ST and other catego ries specified under Rule 6 b of the CSE Rules.
309 of 1989.
Thereafter, though the Public Services Qualification for Recruitment Committee appointed by the Government of India in 1955 recommended the reduction of the age range from 21 24 to 21 23 years, the Government did number agree with that recom mendation and kept the prescribed age limit of 20/21 to 24 years unaltered.
Howev er, the Committee did number recommend lower age limit of 20 years for the IPS, as was permitted.
