Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Fridayannounced reduction in examination fee for all PPSC examinations for generaland SC/ST categories, and complete waiver for candidates from EconomicallyWeaker Sections (EWS) and Persons with Disabilities (PWD) categories, thusproviding major relief to candidates appearing for these exams. Applicationcharges however remain unchanged.
Candidates applying for posts requisitioned by more than onedepartment will also now have to pay only a single exam fee, as per thedirections of the Chief Minister. However, an application fee of Rs 500 remainsthe same for all competitive and job recruitment exams conducted by PunjabPublic Service Commission (PPSC).
The waiver/reduction for the various categories has comeinto immediate effect with the PPSC ordering the same, and the Department ofPersonnel also swiftly issuing the necessary notification, in response to theChief Minister’s directive, said an official spokesperson.
Under the revised slabs, the fee has been slashed from thepresent Rs 2,500 to Rs 1,000 for the general categories, substantially reducedfor SC/ST, and completely eliminated for EWS and PWD categories, thus providingsignificant relief to candidates from weaker sections in particular.
The development assumes significance as PPSC is in theprocess of making recruitments to a large number of posts, especially those ofSDEs and JEs, in various departments.
Giving details on the single exam fee orders, the spokesperson said candidates earlier had to pay the separate exam fee for eachdepartment in case of posts common posts requisitioned by them. However, nowPPSC is going in for a common exam for posts like SDO and JE, and the new fee structure will require the candidate to pay a single exam fee for these postsin all requisitioning departments.
Thus, for a candidate appearing for the post of SDErequisitioned by 17 different departments, the exam fee was previously charged17 times, but now a single exam fee will be charged. Only the application feewill continue to be charged department-wise.
Giving details of the fee cuts, Chief Secretary Vini Mahajansaid the entire examination fee of Rs 2,500 charged from each of theeconomically weaker sections (EWS) and lineal of descendants of ex-serviceman(LDESM) candidates have been waived off, and these candidates will now have topay no fee for appearing for any competitive/ job recruitment exams beingconducted by the PPSC. Similarly, thetotal examination fee of Rs 1,250 charged from each of the persons withdisabilities (PWD) has been slashed and now the candidates from this categorycan take the PPSC exams for free.
Also, giving major relief to the SC/ST categories from allthe states and the OBC candidates from Punjab, the PPSC has reduced theirexamination fee from Rs 650 to Rs 250. Extending the benefit to all other candidates, including those from thegeneral categories, the PPSC has slashed the examination fee from the presentRs 2,500 to Rs 1,500, she said.