The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has clarified that serving IAS, IPS and IFS officers will not be permitted to appear in the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2026, putting an end to consecutive or parallel attempts once a candidate has been appointed to a service.
According to the official notification, the UPSC CSE Preliminary Examination 2026 is scheduled to be held on May 24, while the main examination will take place in August, with a total of 933 vacancies to be filled through the recruitment process.
As per Rule 12 of the Civil Services Rules, 2026, candidates who have already been appointed to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) or the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) through an earlier examination and continue to be members of the service will not be eligible to appear in CSE 2026.
The rules further state that even if a candidate is appointed to IAS or IFS after clearing the prelims but before the mains examination, they will be barred from appearing in the mains. Similarly, candidates appointed to IAS or IFS after the CSE 2026 mains but before the declaration of the final result will not be considered for service allocation.
In the case of the Indian Police Service (IPS), the commission has clarified that candidates who have already been selected or appointed to IPS through an earlier examination will not be eligible for selection to the IPS again, even if they appear in a subsequent CSE.
However, UPSC has allowed a one-time exemption for candidates allocated to IPS or Central Services Group ‘A’ through CSE 2026 to appear in CSE 2027, subject to strict conditions. These include seeking exemption from joining training and forfeiture of the service allocation if the candidate neither joins the training nor avails the exemption as prescribed.
The clarification aims to ensure transparency and consistency in the civil services selection process while preventing repeated or overlapping service appointments.