Chandigarh, December 29, 2025: The Haryana government has officially notified the Haryana Civil Service (Executive Branch) Amendment Rules, 2025, introducing significant changes in the examination pattern and evaluation process of the HCS (Executive Branch) examination.
The notification in this regard has been issued by Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi. Through these amendments, Clause II and III of Sub-rule (1) of Rule 11 of the Haryana Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules, 2008 have been replaced.
As per the revised rules, the main written examination will now consist of six papers carrying a total of 600 marks. These include English (with an English essay), Hindi (with a Hindi essay in Devanagari script), and four General Studies papers (Paper I to IV), each carrying 100 marks. All papers will be conventional (descriptive) in nature, with a duration of three hours each. Except for language or literature papers, candidates may answer in either English or Hindi.
The personality test/interview will carry 75 marks, taking the total marks for final merit determination to 675. For the main examination, candidates up to 12 times the number of advertised vacancies will be shortlisted, while for the interview, candidates up to three times the number of vacancies (including bracketed candidates) will be called. Ex-servicemen and dependents of ex-servicemen will also be required to appear in all papers.
To qualify for the personality test, candidates must secure a minimum of 45 percent aggregate marks in all written papers and at least 33 percent separately in both English and Hindi. However, in case an adequate number of candidates with benchmark disabilities are not available, the Haryana Public Service Commission may relax the qualifying aggregate marks up to 35 percent. Final selection will be based on marks obtained in the main examination, the personality test, and service preferences filled by candidates.
The syllabus for the main examination, which will be at the graduation level, will be notified by the government. Any future changes or modifications in the syllabus of the preliminary or main examination will be notified through the Gazette after consultation with the Commission. Application forms and examination fee rates will be fixed by the Commission in consultation with the government. Candidates failing to deposit the fee by the prescribed deadline will be deemed ineligible to appear in the examination.
The amendment rules further state that in case two or more candidates secure equal total marks, preference will be given to the candidate who has obtained higher marks in the main written examination. If marks are still equal, the older candidate will be ranked higher.
