With barely hours left for the J&K Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination, a full-blown confrontation erupted on Saturday between the offices of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the Lieutenant Governor, deepening anxiety among thousands of civil services aspirants.
At the heart of the row is the government’s indecision on granting age relaxation — a provision extended consistently over the last four years — that candidates expected would once again raise the upper age limit from 32 to 37. With the exam scheduled for Sunday, December 7, the prolonged silence has pushed aspirants into confusion and distress.
CM Blames Raj Bhavan for “Uncertainty”
Breaking his silence late Saturday afternoon, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah publicly held the Raj Bhavan responsible for the deadlock.
In a statement posted on X, the Chief Minister’s Office said Omar Abdullah was “deeply concerned” over the stress faced by candidates — worsened by widespread flight disruptions — and the “uncertainty caused by Lok Bhavan’s delay in approving age relaxation, a provision granted multiple times in the past.”
He urged the Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission to “consider postponing the exam in the interest of fairness and equal opportunity.”
LG Office Hits Back: “Misleading Posts”
Within hours, the LG’s Office responded sharply, rejecting suggestions of delay and calling the circulating claims “misleading.”
According to a series of posts on X, the file seeking age relaxation reached the LG Secretariat on December 2 and was “returned the same day” with a specific query: whether it was logistically feasible to alter eligibility criteria just five days before the exam.
“Despite a lapse of four days, no response was received,” the LG’s Office said, adding that it sympathised with young aspirants but could not compromise procedural integrity. It also pointed out that the JKPSC had announced the exam date on November 6, with the initial advertisement issued on August 22.
Opposition Steps In: ‘Aspirants Caught in Crossfire’
The political storm quickly widened, with opposition leaders accusing both sides of playing with the future of young candidates.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said aspirants were “caught in a tussle between the LG and the CM,” adding that many were braving freezing cold on the streets demanding “basic fairness — age relaxation and a reasonable exam schedule.”
People’s Conference chairman Sajad Lone went a step further, calling the situation a “classic case of passing the buck at the cost of young aspirants.”
Targeting the Chief Minister, Lone said: “The CM first claimed he had no role in blocking the age relaxation file. Now the LG says it was sent back on December 2. For heaven’s sake, can the CM put something in writing? Governance cannot be run through TV bytes.”
CPI(M) leader and MLA M.Y. Tarigami also urged immediate intervention, warning that conducting the exam while the age relaxation file was still under review would put many candidates at a “clear disadvantage.”
He pointed out that several aspirants travelling from outside the Union Territory were stranded due to flight cancellations and asked the government to defer the examination “until the approval process is concluded.”