Why UPSC's red line on repeat attempts is a tough reform
India Today
For years, the UPSC allowed already-selected officers to reappear in the Civil Service Examination. While they sought "better" services, seats for fresh aspirants shrunk. This drained public resources too. The UPSC, with the new rule, is trying to curb the practice. There are some inter-services power dynamics, too, at play in the story.
In Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar, 22-year-old Puneet Kumar is preparing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination 2026 with renewed optimism after the notification released last week. His excitement is a result of a structural shift taken by the government's top recruiting body. The UPSC has capped repeat Civil Service Exam attempts for some of the already-serving officers. It is an intervention that aspirants like Puneet believe could create a balance in the competition. UPSC mentors are calling it a big and timely intervention.
For example, serving IAS or IFS officers can now appear for exam again only after resigning from their services. If a candidate is selected as an IPS officer or allocated a Group A Central Service, only one improvement attempt will be allowed. Beyond that, resignation from some of the services is now mandatory for reappearance, according to the latest UPSC notification.
For Puneet, who is set to make his third attempt after clearing the Mains twice, the change is consequential. "I am not saying that reappearing officers definitely stopped me from clearing the exam... But maybe they did... The move improves my chances. Perhaps this time, I will reach the interview stage," Puneet tells India Today Digital.
He also has the Puja Khedkars in his mind. Probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar's case in 2024 was just one of the many aspirants using EWS, OBC non-creamy and disability quotas to exploit loopholes in the system to clear the Civil Services Exam (CSE), commonly referred to as the "Civils". The UPSC later cancelled Khedkar's candidature and barred her from future exams.
The UPSC's recent move has been praised. Like aspirants, UPSC mentors underline that the move is an important procedural tweak and was a long-overdue correction in how India recruits to build its bureaucratic steel frame.
The UPSC is a constitutional body established under Article 315 of the Constitution. Its most significant responsibility is conducting the annual Civil Services Examination (CSE), through which officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and other Group A and B services are recruited.
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