The Union Public Service Commission has issued clearer and more detailed rules on eligibility and the number of attempts for candidates who are already serving in the civil services. The revised norms are part of the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2026 notification released on Tuesday and aim to remove long-standing ambiguities, particularly for officers from the IAS, IPS, IFS and other Group A services.

Online applications for CSE 2026 are now open on the UPSC website and will remain available until February 24.

As per the notification, candidates who were appointed to the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign Service through an earlier examination and who continue to serve in those cadres are not eligible to appear in CSE 2026. The rules also specify clear cut-off stages. If a candidate receives an IAS or IFS appointment after clearing the CSE 2026 preliminary examination but before the mains begin, they will not be permitted to write the mains. If the appointment is made after the mains examination has started but before the final results are declared, the candidate will not be considered for allocation to any service through CSE 2026.

The notification also brings sharper clarity for the Indian Police Service. UPSC has explicitly stated that candidates who have already been selected or appointed to the IPS through a previous examination cannot opt for or be allotted the IPS again on the basis of CSE 2026 results. While restrictions of this nature existed earlier, the commission has, for the first time, laid out the IPS-related conditions in a more detailed and unambiguous manner.

The revised norms are expected to help serving officers and aspirants better understand their eligibility status at different stages of the examination process.