Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday raised the upper age limit for recruitments for non-uniformed government jobs from the existing 34 years to 40 years.
The decision is aimed at making up for the last six years that were lost without any direct recruitment by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) in the erstwhile state. The last direct recruitments were in the year 2008. However, this will only be in force for two years, after which the upper age limit will again be made 34 years. 
In an order issued on Tuesday, Chief Secretary, Mr I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, said that the move had been necessitated by the bifurcation of the state and the subsequently lessened job opportunities. “The opportunities that existed before bifurcation were lost after bifurcation of the state. Hence, the proposal to enhance the age limit from 34 years to 40 years became the urgent need of the hour,” Mr Krishna Rao stated in the order.
Consequently, aspirants from SC, ST and BC will get a relaxation of five years, making people up to 45 years of age eligible for government jobs.
With the government setting 60 years as the age of retirement, peripheral aspirants (of the upper age limit) will have only 20 years of service while backward classes will have just 15 years of service. The rise in the upper age limit will, however, open up job opportunities to a lot of persons.
Unofficial estimates state that 1.30 lakh more people in Andhra Pradesh will get the opportunity to sit for APPSC recruitment exams. However, this relaxation will not be applicable to uniformed jobs in the police, excise, fire, prisons and forest departments. The previous government's, headed by Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, plans of recruiting over 1 lakh persons and create more posts had hit obstacles. The concession in the upper age limit will be valid till September 30, 2016.
