Of the 60,244 vacancies in the police service, 24,102 are unreserved (Representational)
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday issued an order providing a three-year age relaxation for candidates applying for the recruitment of 60,244 police constables.
The chief minister's instruction to the Home Department came in the wake of demands from youths and public representatives who cited the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the career prospects of youngsters in the state.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jewar (Gautam Buddh Nagar) MLA Dhirendra Singh and Anupshahar (Bulandshahr) MLA Sanjay Sharma also met the chief minister in the state capital to press for the age relaxation.
Opposition party Rashtriya Lok Dal had also started a public campaign in western Uttar Pradesh for the demand.
"Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed the Principal Secretary (Home Department) to give three years relaxation in the age limit of candidates of all categories in the police recruitment this time," according to an official statement from the CM's office.
The state government had on December 23 notified the recruitment of 60,244 police constables. The application process would begin on December 27 and continue till January 16.
The minimum age for candidates is 18 years and the maximum is 22 years, according to the notification. The two BJP lawmakers had written to the chief minister, requesting a relaxation of three-five years in the upper age limit citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the last two years.
Of the 60,244 vacancies in the police service, 24,102 are unreserved, 6,024 for economically weaker section, 16,262 for Other Backward Classes, 12,650 for Scheduled Castes and 1,204 for Scheduled Tribes, according to the official notification.
Of the total posts, 20 percent have been reserved for women, it added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)