Full Text
772 GI/2026 (1)
REGD. No. D. L.-33004/99
The Gazette of India
EXTRAORDINARY
PART I—Section 1
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
No. 27] NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2026/MAGHA 15, 1947
CG-DL-E-04022026-269830
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 4th February, 2026
INDIAN FOREST SERVICE EXAMINATION, 2026
F.No.17011/01/2026-IFS-II.—The Rules for Indian Forest Service Examination to be held by the
Union Public Service Commission in 2026 for the purpose of filling vacancies in the Indian Forest Service
are published for general information. All candidates (male/female/transgender) are requested to carefully
read these Rules and the examination notice of the UPSC derived from these Rules.
1. Indian Forest Service Examination will be a two tier examination - a Preliminary screening
Examination followed by a main Written Examination and Interview. For screening suitable
number of candidates for the 2nd stage of the Examination, viz, Indian Forest Service (Main)
Examination, all candidates would be required to qualify Civil Services (Preliminary)
Examination (hereinafter called the Preliminary Examination).
VACANCIES AND RESERVATION:
2. The number of vacancies to be filled through the examination will be specified in the Notice issued by
the Commission.
Reservation will be made for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes,
Other Backward Classes, Economically Weaker Sections and persons with benchmark disability in the
categories of (a) low vision; (b) Partially deaf; (c) locomotor disability (sub-category : leprosy cured and
acid attack victims only) in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the Government.
NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS:
3. Every candidate appearing at the Examination, who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted six attempts
at the examination.
Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of Scheduled Caste and
Scheduled Tribe candidates who are otherwise eligible.
Provided further that the number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to Other Backward
Classes who are otherwise eligible, shall be nine.
Provided further that a person with benchmark disability will get as many attempts as are available to
other candidates who do not belong to person with benchmark disability of his or her community, subject
to the condition that a person with benchmark disability belonging to the Unreserved and EWS Category
shall be eligible for nine attempts. The relaxation will be available to the persons with benchmark
disability who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.
Note-1 : A candidate shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the examination if he/she actually
appears in any one or more papers.
Note-2 : If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, as a candidate
for the Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination, he/she shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the
Examination.
Note-3 : Notwithstanding the disqualification/cancellation of candidature the fact of appearance of the
candidate at the examination will count as an attempt.
PLAN OF EXAMINATION:
4. The examination will be conducted by the Union Public Service Commission in the manner prescribed
in Appendix I to these rules.
The dates on which and the places at which the Preliminary and Main Examination will be held shall be
fixed and notified by the Commission.
Universal Registration Number (URN) Profile and Common Application Form (CAF) :-
4.1 (1) A candidate who is willing to apply for Indian Forest Service Examination shall be required to
apply on-line and submit the requisite information and supporting documents towards various
claims, such as date of birth, category [viz. SC/ST/OBC/ EWS/PwBD/Ex-Servicemen], educational
qualification etc. as may be sought by the Commission alongwith the Common Application Form.
For detailed instructions for filling up the form, the Notice for Indian Forest Service Examination,
2026 may be referred. The failure to provide the required information/documents alongwith the
Universal Registration Number (URN) Profile and Common Application Form will entail
cancellation of candidature for the examination.
(2) The Commission shall provide a window of 10 (Ten) days after the declaration of result of Indian
Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination [through Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination]. All
the candidates qualified for Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination will have to mandatorily
login to this window and provide details, documents and information etc. required/sought therein.
The candidates, who are required to pay fee, shall have to pay fee through this window.
(3) The Commission shall also provide a window of 15 (Fifteen) days after declaration of result of
written part of Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination to the candidates qualified for
Personality Test/Interview. The candidates as per Note I below Rule 7 shall be required to update
their details/educational qualification status (whether appearing/appeared) and to produce/upload
the proof of passing of the requisite qualifying examination at the specified module/portal, failing
which such candidates will not be allowed to appear in the Personality Test/Interview and his/her
candidature will be liable to be cancelled.
Note: In this period, all the candidates qualified for Personality Test shall also be provided an option to
update Correspondence/ Permanent Postal Address, Higher Educational Qualification, Achievement in
different fields (if any), Employment Details/Service Experience, details of the Service allocated on the
basis of earlier/previous Indian Forest Service Examinations (if any) and Cadre Preference for the
current examination. The details updated in this window will be treated as final and no request for any
change in these fields received through any other mode will be entertained.
Note :- It is pertinent to note that the candidature of candidates who fail to provide, update or
confirm their details during the windows provided after the declaration of Indian Forest Service
(Preliminary) Examination [through Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination] and Indian
Forest Service (Main) Examination may be subject to cancellation.
NATIONALITY:
5. A candidate must be either :—
(a) a citizen of India, or
(b) a subject of Nepal, or
(c) a subject of Bhutan, or
(d) a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before the 1st January, 1962 with the intention of
permanently settling in India, or
(e) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African
Countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and
Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.
Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) above shall be a person in whose
favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.
A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary may be admitted to the examination but
the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary eligibility certificate has been issued to
him/her by the Government of India.
AGE:
6. (a) A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on
1st August, 2026 i.e. he/she must have been born not earlier than 2nd August, 1994 and not later than 1st
August, 2005.
(b) The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable :—
(i) upto a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe;
(ii) upto a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes
who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates;
(iii) upto a maximum of three years in the case of Defence services personnel disabled in
operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a
consequence thereof;
((iv) upto a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned
Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st
August, 2026 and have been released;
(i) on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed
within one year from 1st August, 2026) otherwise than by way of dismissal or
discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or
(ii) on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service, or
(iii) on invalidment.
(v) upto a maximum of five years in the case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial
period of assignment of five years of Military Service as on 1st August, 2026 and whose
assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues
a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and they will be released on three months‘
notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment;
(vi) up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities viz. (a) low
vision; (b) Partially deaf; (c) locomotor disability (sub-category : leprosy cured and acid attack
victims only) in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the Government.
Note I : Candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward
Classes who are also covered under any other clauses of rule 6(b) above, viz. those coming under
the category of Ex-servicemen, Low Vision, Hearing Impaired (Partially deaf) and Locomotor
disability (sub-category : Leprosy cured and Acid attack victims) will be eligible for grant of
cumulative age relaxation under both the categories.
Note II: In regard to Functional Classification and Physical Requirements of PwBD candidates, the same
procedure as has been followed till the previous examination may be followed by the
Government (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change).
Note III: The term Ex-servicemen will apply to the persons who are defined as ex-servicemen in the Ex
servicemen (Re-employment in Civil Services and Posts) rules, 1979 as amended from time to
time.
Note IV: The age concession under rule 6(b)(iv) and (v) will be admissible to Ex-Servicemen i.e. a person
who has served in any rank whether as combatant or non-combatant in the Regular Army, Navy
and Air Force of the Indian Union and who either has been retired or relieved or discharged from
such service whether at his own request or being relieved by the employer after earning his or her
pension.
Note V : Notwithstanding the provision of age relaxation under rule 6(b) (vi) above a person with
benchmark disability will be considered to be eligible for appointment only if he/she (after such
physical examination as the Government or appointing authority, as the case may be, may
prescribe) is found to satisfy the requirements of physical and medical standards for the
concerned Services/Posts to be allocated to the person with benchmark disability candidates by
the Government.
SAVE AS PROVIDED ABOVE THE AGE LIMITS PRESCRIBED CAN IN NO CASE BE
RELAXED
Note-VI: The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the Matriculation or Secondary
School Leaving Certificate or in a certificate recognised by an Indian University as equivalent
to Matriculation or in an extract from a Register of Matriculates maintained by a University
which extract must be certified by the proper authority of the University or in the Higher
Secondary or an equivalent examination certificate. These certificates are required to be
submitted at the time of applying for the Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination.
No other documents relating to age like horoscopes, affidavits, birth extracts from Municipal
Corporation, Service records and the like will be accepted.
The expression Matriculation/Higher Secondary Examination Certificate in this part of the
instruction includes the alternative certificates mentioned above.
Note VII: Candidates should note that only the date of birth as recorded in the Matriculation/Secondary
Examination Certificate or an equivalent certificate on the date of submission of application will
be accepted by the Commission and no subsequent request for its change will be considered or
granted.
Note VIII: Candidates should also note that once a date of birth has been submitted by them in the
Universal Registration Number (URN) Profile and Common Application Form and entered
in the records of the Commission for the purpose of admission to an Examination, no change
will be allowed subsequently (or at any other examination of the Commission) on any grounds
whatsoever.
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION:
7. A candidate must hold a Bachelor‘s degree with at least one of the subjects, namely: Animal
Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and
Zoology or Bachelor‘s degree in Agriculture, Forestry or in Engineering of any University incorporated by
an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of
Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission
Act, 1956 or possess an equivalent qualification.
NOTE I : Candidate who have appeared at an examination the passing of which would render them
educationally qualified for the Commission‘s examination but have not been informed of the
results as also the candidates who intend to appear at such a qualifying examination will also
be eligible for admission to the Preliminary Examination. However, all such candidates, who
are declared qualified by the Commission for Interview/Personality Test, will be required to
produce proof of passing of the requisite qualifying examination within the time limit
prescribed in Rule 4.1.
NOTE II : In addition, the candidates who possess qualification equivalent to those specified in Rule 7
will be required to produce a certificate from University incorporated by an Act of the Central
or State Legislature in India or other educational institution established by an Act of Parliament
or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the University Grant Commission
Act, 1956 clarifying that the degree is at par with the Bachelor‘s degree specified in Rule 7
along with their applications for the Main Examination failing which such candidate will not be
admitted to the Main Examination.
NOTE III: In exceptional cases the Union Public Service Commission may treat a candidate who does not
have any of the foregoing qualifications, as a qualified candidate provided that he/she has
passed examinations conducted by the other institutions the standard of which in the opinion of
the Commission justifies his/her admission of the examination.
FEES:
8. Candidates must pay the fee prescribed in the Commission‘s Notice.
UNDERTAKING BY GOVERNMENT/PSU EMPLOYEES:
9. All candidates in Government Service, whether in a permanent or in temporary capacity or as work
charged employees other than casual or daily rated employees or those serving under Public Enterprises
will be required to submit an undertaking that they have informed in writing to their Head of
Office/Department that they have applied for the examination.
Candidates should note that in case a communication is received from their employer by the Commission
withholding permission to the candidates applying for/appearing at the examination, their application will
be liable to be rejected/candidature will be liable to be cancelled.
FULFILLING ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS:
10. The decision of the Commission as to the acceptance of the application of a candidate and his/her
eligibility or otherwise for admission to the examination shall be final.
The candidates applying for the examination should ensure that they fulfill all the eligibility
conditions for admission to the examination. Their admission at all the stages of examination for which
they are admitted by the Commission viz. Preliminary Examination, Main (Written) Examination and
Interview Test will be purely provisional subject to their satisfying the prescribed eligibility conditions. If
on verification at any time before or after the Preliminary Examination, Main (Written) Examination and
Interview Test, it is found that they do not fulfill any of eligibility conditions; their candidature for the
examination will be cancelled by the Commission.
ADMISSION CERTIFICATE AND WITHDRAWAL OF APPLICATION:
11. No candidate will be admitted to the examination unless he/she holds a certificate of admission from
the Commission.
The candidates will not be allowed to withdraw their applications after the submission of the same.
DISQUALIFICATION, DEBARMENT, DISCIPLINARY ACTION, CRIMINAL PROSECUTION:
12.(1) A candidate who is or has been declared by the Commission to be guilty of :-
(a) Obtaining support for candidature by the following means, namely :-
(i) offering illegal gratification to; or
(ii) applying pressure on; or
(iii) blackmailing, or threatening to blackmail any person connected with the conduct of
the examination; or
(b) impersonation; or
(c) procuring impersonation by any person; or
(d) submitting fabricated/incorrect documents or documents which have been tampered with; or
(e) uploading irrelevant or incorrect photo/signature in the application form in place of actual
photo/signature; or
(f) making statements which are incorrect or false or suppressing material information; or
(g) resorting to the following means in connection with the candidature for the examination,
namely :-
(i) obtaining copy of question paper through improper means; or
(ii) finding out the particulars of the persons connected with secret work relating to the
examination; or
(iii) influencing the examiners; or
(h) being in possession of or using unfair means during the examination; or
(i) writing obscene matter or drawing obscene sketches or irrelevant matter in the scripts; or
(j) misbehaving in the examination hall including tearing of the scripts, provoking fellow
examinees to boycott examination, creating a disorderly scene and the like; or
(k) harassing, threatening or doing bodily harm to the staff employed by the Commission for the
conduct of the examination; or
(l) being in possession of or using any mobile phone, (even in switched-off mode), pager or any
electronic equipment or programmable device or storage media like pen drive, smart watches
etc. or camera or bluetooth devices or any other equipment or related accessories (either in
working or switched-off mode) capable of being used as a communication device during the
examination; or
(m) violating any of the instructions issued to candidates along with their admission certificates
permitting them to take the examination; or
(n) attempting to commit or, as the case may be, abetting the commission of all or any of the acts
specified in the foregoing clauses;
in addition to being liable to criminal prosecution shall be disqualified by the Commission from the
Examination held under these Rules; and/or shall be liable to be debarred either permanently or for a
specified period :-
(i) by the Commission, from any examination or selection held by them;
(ii) by the Central Government from any employment under them;
and shall be liable to face disciplinary action under the appropriate rules if already in service under
Government;
Provided that no penalty under this rule shall be imposed except after :-
(i) giving the candidate an opportunity of making such representation in writing as the
candidate may wish to make in that behalf; and
(ii) taking the representation, if any, submitted by the candidate within the period allowed for
this purpose, into consideration.
(2) Any person who is found by the Commission to be guilty of colluding with a candidate(s) in
committing or abetting the commission of any of the misdeeds listed at the clauses (a) to (m) above will be
liable to action in terms of the clause (n) in Rule 12 (1) above.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATION MARKS:
13. Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the General Studies Paper-I of Preliminary
Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion and a minimum of 33% marks in
General Studies Paper-II of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination shall be admitted to the Indian
Forest Service (Main) Examination. The candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the
Main Examination (Written) as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion shall be invited by
them for an interview for personality test.
The minimum qualifying marks as determined above, may be relaxed at the discretion of the
Commission, in favour of Person with benchmark disability, in order to fill up the vacancies reserved for
them, if any.
Provided that candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or Other
Backward Classes or Economically Weaker Section may be invited for an interview for a personality test
by the Commission by applying relaxed standards in the General Studies Paper-I of the Preliminary
Examination as well as Main Examination (Written) if the Commission is of the opinion that sufficient
number of candidates from these communities are not likely to be invited for interview for a personality
test on the basis of the general standard in order to fill up vacancies reserved for them.
DECLARATION OF RESULTS:
14.(i) After the interview, the candidates will be arranged by the Commission in the order of merit as
determined by the aggregate marks finally awarded to each candidate in the Main Examination.
Thereafter, the Commission shall, for the purpose of recommending candidates against unreserved
vacancies, fix a qualifying mark (hereinafter referred to as general qualifying standard) with reference to
the number of unreserved vacancies to be filled up on the basis of the Main Examination.
(ii) The candidates belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward
Classes or Economically Weaker Section may to the extent of the number of vacancies reserved for the
Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes or Economically Weaker Section be
recommended by the Commission by a relaxed standard, subject to the fitness of these candidates for
selection to the Service.
Provided that the candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Other
Backward Classes, the Economically Weaker Section and Persons with Benchmark Disability who have
been recommended by the Commission without resorting to any relaxations/concessions in the eligibility
or selection criteria, at any stage of the examination, shall not be adjusted against the vacancies reserved
for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Other Backward Classes, the Economically Weaker
Section and Persons with Benchmark Disability but shall in the first instance be recommended by the
Commission against the unreserved vacancies.
Note : The facility of scribe, along with compensatory time which is available for eligible candidates
belonging to Persons with Benchmark Disability category and the disability of such candidates,
which he/she is suffering from in respect of Medical fitness, shall not be treated as
relaxations/concession.
COMMUNICATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE EXAMINATION:
15. The form and manner of communication of the result of the examination to individual candidates shall
be decided by the Commission in their discretion and the Commission will not enter into correspondence
with them regarding the result.
SUITABILITY FOR APPOINTMENT:
16. Success in the examination confers no right to allocation & appointment unless Government is
satisfied after such enquiry as may be considered necessary that the candidate, having regard to his/her
character and antecedents and certificates produced by him/her during the course of examination for the
purpose of eligibility as well as claiming any kind of benefit for reservation is suitable in all respects
including medical examination for allocation/appointment to the Service. The decision of the Government
in this regard shall be final.
No Person—
(a) who has entered into or contracted a marriage with a person having a spouse living, or
(b) who having a spouse living has entered into or contracted a marriage with any person shall be
eligible for appointment to Service.
Provided that the Central Government may, if satisfied that such marriage is permissible under the
personal law applicable to such person and the other party to the marriage and there are other grounds for
so doing, exempt any person from the operation of this rule.
ALLOCATION OF CADRES:
17. (i) A candidate shall be required to indicate, as and when asked for by the Commission, and in the
manner prescribed by it, his/her choice in the order of preference from amongst the various State Cadres
including his/her ‗Home State‘.
(ii) The cadre allotment to candidates appointed to Indian Forest Service will be governed by the policy of
cadre allotment in force at the time of allotment of cadre. Due consideration will be given at the time of
making allocation on