Civil Services Exam 2019 Reserve List: UPSC Releases Important Clarification

New Delhi: The Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) has released a clarification notice with regard to operation of Reserve List in Civil Services Examinations, especially that of CSE, 2019.

The clarification comes in the backdrop of circulation of some misleading information regarding the operation of the CSE, 2019 on social media.

In a statement, UPSC said, “The Commission strictly goes by the Rules of Examination as notified by the Government of India through Gazette Notification for Civil Services Examination and all other examinations conducted by the commission while preparing results.”

For Civil Services Examination, the Commission recommends candidates belonging to different categories for their appointments in different services. While declaring Main result (the result at first instance), the number of recommended candidates under General (unreserved) category is reduced by the total number of candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Other Backward Classes and the Economically Weaker Sections who acquire the merit at or above the general qualifying standard without availing any of the concession/relaxation either in eligibility or in selection criteria.

As per the UPSC statement, along with the list of recommended candidates of Main result, the Commission also maintains a consolidated Reserve List of candidates of general and reserved categories ranking below the last recommended candidate in the merit order under each of the categories for subsequent recommendation after concluding the exercise of service allocation of the recommended candidates of the Main result by the Government {Sub-rule 16(4) of the Gazette Notification of Civil Services Examination, 2019}

The recommendation of the candidates in this manner as envisaged in the Rules of Examination is an established practice of giving fair treatment to the candidates of reserved categories since decades enabling them to choose a service of higher preference based on their reserved status.

After exercise of the above option by the reserved category candidates, the resultant vacancies which arise due to the category movements, are filled up from the Reserve List, on a requisition received from the Government for each category including the General (unreserved) category.

From the above stated process, it is clear that the Reserve List is not a waiting list. In fact, the Reserve list is necessitated in a multi-service examination to allow candidates of reserved categories to choose a service of higher preference who qualify at or above general qualifying standard without availing any concession/relaxation at any stage of the examination.

“It is also necessary to state that all candidates, who are recommended from the Reserve List, are placed en-bloc below the last recommended candidate in merit position in each category of the Main result of the examination,” the statement added.