UPPSC declares new date for PCS exam, reschedules to December 22

The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) on Friday (November 15, 2024) announced the rescheduled date for the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) preliminary exam 2024 to December 22, consolidating the examination into a single day. The declaration follows intense protest from aspirants for four days over the earlier plan to hold the exam over two days and concerns about the use of a normalisation process to select candidates. The PCS prelims exam will now take place in two shifts on December 22.

“The examination will now be conducted in a single day rather than over two days, as originally planned for December 7 and 8. The revised exam will take place on December 22 in two shifts, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.,” reads a statement issued by Onkar Nath Singh, Deputy Secretary, UPPSC.

The Commission agreed to conduct the Provincial Civil Services (preliminary) examination in one day on the old pattern, after aspirants numbered in thousands continued with their sit-in protest outside the UPPSC headquarter in Prayagraj. However, regarding the similar demand about the exams of Review Officer (RO)/Assistant Review Officer (ARO), the Commission while postponing the paper, declared that it was forming a committee to look into the demands and submit its report soon. The dates for exam were not announced.

The student protests in Prayagraj outside the UPPSC office ended after the announcement of UPPSC (preliminary) examination date. “The protest has ended. No one is present at the site. The last group of protestors numbered 10-15 have also left late evening,” Shyamjeet Pramila Singh, ACP (Civil Lines), told The Hindu.

Aspirants who were part of the agitation also said students have ended the protest. “We have back to our studies, as the Commission agreed to our major demands. We will wait for the committee recommendation on RO/ARO exam,” said Avinash Singh, an aspirant.

Earlier, the PCS preliminary examination was scheduled to be conducted over two days, on December 7 and 8, while the RO/ARO (preliminary) examination 2023 was announced in two shifts on December 22 and 23.