Odisha Civil Services Exam: Cabinet clears proposal to remove attempt limit for civil services recruitment

The Odisha Cabinet has approved a proposal to remove the restriction on the number of attempts for candidates appearing in the Odisha Civil Services (OCS) examination. Under the proposed amendment, candidates who meet the prescribed age and other eligibility conditions will be allowed to appear for the preliminary examination without any limit on attempts.

Earlier, general category candidates were allowed six attempts, while those belonging to the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) could take the examination nine times. Candidates from the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) were already exempt from the attempt limit.

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Odisha OCS Exam: Attempt limit change

The State Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, approved the proposal to amend the Odisha Civil Services (Combined Competitive Recruitment Examination) Rules, 1991, according to a government press brief.

The Odisha government had revised the attempt limits in October 2022. The amendment increased the permitted attempts for general category candidates from four to six and for SEBC candidates from seven to nine. It retained the provision of unlimited attempts for SC and ST candidates.

With the latest Cabinet approval, the state proposes to remove the attempt cap for all candidates, subject to the prescribed age and other eligibility conditions.

The government said the latest proposal would provide wider and fairer opportunities for merit-based selection.