Karnataka Govt To Hold KAS Prelims On August 27, Rejects Candidates' Demand For Postponement

The Karnataka government will hold the KAS exam on August 27, 2024, despite protests from some candidates who requested postponement, citing that it's a working day.

KPSC KAS Exam 2024 to be held tomorrow, August 27, 2024.

Source : PTI

The Karnataka government will conduct the Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) examination on August 27, 2024. Amid protests from some candidates, the government is sticking to its stand on holding the exam as scheduled. Members of the Karnataka State Students' Association demanded the postponement of the KAS exam stating that it is a working day. The association had approached the government demanding the postponement of the exam to September 1 (Sunday).

On Sunday, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister LK Atheeq said that a "small group" of aspirants were "lobbying for postponement" of the KPSC exams.

In a statement, he said if the government cancelled the exams based on the demands of around 1,500 students, the "number of people who applied late after age relaxation was given" and "who got an extra chance and age relaxation", then over 2.5 lakh candidates, who appeared for the exams would suffer.

“The notification for the KPSC was released on February 26 and the prelims were initially scheduled to be held on May 5. However, it was initially postponed to July 7, but as it was clashing with the dates for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam, it was later scheduled to be held on July 21. But, based on a government order on June 21, which instructed the body to give additional attempts to the candidates from 2017-18, who were barred due to age, the exams were shifted to August 25," the Chief Secretary said.

"Around 1,560 applications of candidates from the 2017-18 batches were received till July 21. However, the date for the Institute of Banking Personnel Section (IBPS) exam was announced, so the state's civil services examination was postponed to August 27,” the Chief Secretary added.

He further said that the state's civil services exam was being held on a working day as the government doesn't have another Sunday available for the next two months.

Highlighting the risk of a paper leak, he stated that conducting an exam for over 2.5 lakh students requires extensive preparation, including a cost of ₹4-5 crores for printing the papers. If the exam is postponed by two months, the existing papers would need to be destroyed, and new ones printed, as keeping them for such a long time increases the risk of a paper leak.