Thousands appear for JKAS competitive exam in J&K amid fight cancellation, age relaxation row

Srinagar/Jammu: Hundreds of aspirants on Sunday sat for the JKAS exam conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission amid raging controversy over flight cancellations and age relaxation.

The public service commission decided to go ahead with the competitive exam for J&K civil services despite a request by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to postpone the exam for a reasonable duration because of the widespread disruption of air services and the issue of age relaxation still pending confirmation.

The test started at all the identified centres in Srinagar and Jammu cities at 10 a.m.

As the ruling National Conference (NC) held that the file pertaining to the age relaxation for the coveted competition was pending with the Lt Governor, the Lok Bhawan said categorically that no file specifically pertaining to the conduct of the JKAS exam was pending.

The L-G said that the file pertaining to overall age relaxation for government jobs had been received by him on December 2 and was returned the same day to the government with a query.

About the implementation of age relaxation to the present JKAS exam, the L-G had said that with the public service commission scheduling the exam on December 7 and the basic advertisement was issued for the exam much earlier, how could the logistics be worked out backwards?

The L-G responded through social media that he returned the file the same day, on December 2, with a query about the possibility of holding the examination on the scheduled date if the upper age limit was relaxed, but received no follow-up from the government.

JKPSC published an advertisement for the examination on August 22, with the exam scheduled for December 7.

The commission had fixed a maximum age limit of 32 years for open merit candidates, 34 years for reserved or in-service candidates and 35 years for physically challenged persons.

However, the government sought relaxation of the upper age limit to 35 years for open merit candidates, 37 years for reserved or in-service candidates and 38 years for physically challenged candidates.

Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M) leader M.Y. Tarigami and others had asked the L-G and the CM to quickly resolve the issue pertaining to the age relaxation.

The J&K Students Association had also made an appeal to the L-G to intervene in the matter and save thousands of aspirants who were facing uncertainty over their eligibility to appear in the exam.

IANS