UPSC Bars Serving Officers from CSE 2026

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will not permit serving Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers to reappear for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2026. This new rule prevents officers from taking consecutive or parallel attempts after being appointed to a service.

The UPSC CSE Prelims exam is scheduled for May 24, 2026 . The Mains exam will follow in August. A total of 933 vacancies are available across services like IAS, IFS, and IPS.

According to Rule 12 of the Civil Service Rules 2026, candidates already appointed to the IAS or IFS through a prior examination cannot appear for CSE 2026. This restriction applies even if the appointment occurs between the Prelims and Mains exams. If an officer is appointed to IAS or IFS after the CSE 2026 Mains but before the final result, they will not be allocated a service.

Similarly, candidates selected or appointed to the IPS through a previous CSE will be ineligible to apply for the IPS post again.

One-Time Relaxation for IPS, Group A

A single exemption is granted to candidates allocated to the IPS or Central Services Group ‘A’ through CSE 2026. These officers can appear for CSE 2027. Strict conditions apply. This includes not joining training or forfeiting service allocation if training is not completed.

The UPSC also offers limited relaxation for candidates allocated services from CSE 2025 or earlier. They may appear for CSE 2026 or CSE 2027 without resigning. This allows them to use remaining attempts. Officers wishing to appear for CSE 2028 or later must resign from their current service before applying.

CSE 2026 Attempt Limits

All candidates receive six attempts for the CSE. Relaxations in the number of attempts are provided for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) candidates.