Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Monday announced a one-time relaxation of three years in the maximum age limit for candidates applying for direct recruitment into the state civil service.

The Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) issued the order. “The government has issued an order relaxing the age limit by three years for all categories of candidates in recruitment to all civil service posts of the state government,” an official statement said.

The decision followed representations from public representatives and organisations to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking a relaxation in the upper age limit.

Earlier, a September 6, 2025 order granted a one-time two-year relaxation. After reviewing further representations, the government withdrew the earlier notification and granted three years instead.

The order applies to all categories of candidates participating in selection processes as per notifications issued after this order and up to December 31, 2027.

The government reiterated that recruitment authorities were earlier instructed not to issue new notifications for direct recruitment or backlog vacancies in certain reserved categories until internal reservation within Scheduled Castes is implemented.

The DPAR underlined that this is a one-time measure intended to benefit a larger pool of aspirants across the state.