Minimum Physical Standard for  UPSC, IAS, IPS, IFS Civil Service Mains Examination 

Minimum Physical Standard for  UPSC, IAS, IPS, IFS height and chest

General Guidelines for Medical Boards:-

(a) The following intimation is made for the guidance of the Medical Examination :—
i. The standard of physical fitness to be adopted should make due allowance for the age and length of service, if any, of the candidate concerned.

ii. No person will be deemed qualified for admission to the Civil Service who shall not satisfy Government or Appointing Authority as the case may be that he/she has no disease, constitutional affliction, or infirmity of body or mind, making him/her unfit or likely to make him/her unfit for that Service.

iii. It should be understood that the question of fitness involves the future as well as present and that one of the main objectives of medical examinations is to secure continuous effective service, and in the case of candidates for permanent appointment, to prevent early pension or payments in case of pre-mature death. It is at the same time to be noted that the question is one of the likelihood of continuous effective service and the rejection of a candidate need not be advised on account of the presence of a defect which in only a small proportion of cases is found to interfere with continuous effective service.

iv. A Lady Doctor will be co-opted as a member of the Medical Board whenever a woman candidate is to be examined.

v. In case where a candidate is declared unfit for appointment in the Government Service the ground for rejection may be communicated to the candidate and a copy of the complete report may be provided to the candidate under receipt, through DOPT.

vi. In case where a Medical Board considers that a temporary disability disqualifying a candidate for Government Service can be cured by treatment (medical or surgical) a statement to the effect should be recorded by the Medical Board. There is no objection to a candidate being informed of the Board’s opinion to the effect by the DoPT and when a cure has been effected it will be open to the DoPT to ask for another Medical Board. 

vii. In the case of candidate who is to be declared ‘Temporarily Unfit’, the period specified for re-examination should not ordinarily exceed six months at the maximum. On re-examination after the specified period, the said candidate should not be declared temporarily unfit for a further period but a final decision in regard to his/her fitness for appointment or otherwise should be given. 

viii. CSMB during Medical Examination may refer to any other Specialty Department for opinion, if required.

ix. For Ophthalmic conditions candidate will be referred to Special Ophthalmic Board.

x. Candidates having Certificate of disability and who have applied against the Persons with Benchmark Disability category will be referred to the respective “Specialized Disability Medical Board.”

xi. Final opinion will be provided by Chairman of CSMB after taking inputs from any Specialty Department/Specialized Medical Board on case to case basis.

xii. In case a Candidate is not satisfied with the opinion of the Chairman of the CSMB, he may appeal to DOPT as per laid down existing procedure.

xiii. Such Candidates going into Appeal may be referred to the Appellate Medical/Specialized Disability Medical Board of a designated Hospital other than the one in which previous Medical Examination was conducted.

xiv. On receiving the Appeal the MS of the Hospital will get the Candidate examined by Standing Specialized Medical Board of the particular specialty for which the candidate was made ‘Unfit’ in the previous Hospital, through Chairman of the CSMB of the Hospital.

xv. Report as submitted by the Chairman of the CSMB will be forwarded to DOPT by the MS of the Hospital.

(b) In the matter of co-relation of age, height and chest girth of candidates of India (including Anglo-Indian race), it is left to the CSMB to use whatever correlation figure are considered most suitable as a guide in the examination of the candidates. If there be any disproportion with regard to height, weight and chest girth, the candidates should be hospitalized for investigation and X-ray of the chest taken and examined before a medical opinion regarding the candidate is given with respect to his/her fitness.

(c) However, for certain services minimum standard for height and chest girth without which candidates cannot be accepted, are as follows: 

* The following relaxed minimum height is prescribed in the case of candidates belonging to Schedule Tribes and to races such as Gorkhas, Garhwalis, Assamese, Kumaonis, Nagaland Tribal etc. whose average height is distinctly lower.

•  Men —150 cms
•  Women —148 cms

**The following relaxed minimum height standard in case of candidates belonging to the Scheduled Tribes and to the races such as Gorkhas, Assamese, Kumaonis, Nagaland are applicable to Indian Police Service and Group ‘A,’ Group
‘B’ Police Services and Group ‘A’ Post in Railway Protection Force.

•  Men —160 cms.
•  Women —145 cms.

8. The candidate’s height will be measured as follows:

He/she will remove his/her shoes and be placed against the standard with his/her feet together and the weight thrown on the heels and not on the toe or other sides of the feet. He/she will stand erect without rigidity and with heels calves buttocks and shoulder touching the standard; the chin will be depressed to bring the vertex of the head level under the horizontal bar and the height will be recorded in centimeters and parts of a centimeter more than half would be rounded off to one and less than half to zero.

9. The candidate’s chest will be measured as follows:

He/she will be made to stand erect with his/her feet together and to raise arms over his/her head. The tape will be so adjusted arround the chest that its upper edge touches the inferior angles of the shoulder blades behind and lies in the same horizontal plane when the tape is taken round the chest. The arms will then be lowered to hang loosely by the side and care will be taken that the shoulders are not thrown upwards or backwards so as to displace the tape. The candidate will then be directed to take a deep inspiration several times and the maximum expansion of the chest will be carefully noted and the minimum and maximum will then be recorded in centimeters 84-89, 86-93.5 etc. In recording the measurements of fractions of less than half a centimeter should be rounded off to zero and more than half to one. N.B.-The height and chest of the candidates should be measured twice before coming to a final decision.

10. The candidate’s weight will be measured as follows:

The candidate will also be weighed and his weight recorded in kilograms. Fractions of half a kilogram should be rounded off to zero and more than half a kilogram should be rounded off to one. 

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS  for  UPSC, IAS, IPS, IFS 

21. A candidate must be in good mental and bodily health and free from any physical defect likely to interfere with the discharge of his duties as an officer of the service. A candidate who after such medical examination as
Government or the appointing authority, as the case may be, may prescribe, is found not to satisfy these requirements will not be appointed. Any candidate called for the Personality Test by the Commission may be required to undergo medical examination. The medical examination shall be conducted by the Government in Delhi in the hospitals as to be decided as per requirement. The decision of the Government regarding the date, venue and suitability of the candidate for appointment to a service shall be final. No fee shall be payable to the Medical Board by the candidate for the medical examination including the case of appeal :
Provided further that Government may constitute a special Medical Board with experts in the area for conducting  the medical examination of Persons with Benchmark Disability.

Note :—In order to prevent disappointment, candidates are advised to have themselves examined by a Government Medical Officer of the standing of a Civil Surgeon, before applying for admission to the examination. Particulars of the nature of the medical test to which candidates will be subjected before appointment and of the standards required are given in Appendix III to these Rules. For the disabled ex-Defence Services Personnel, the standards will be relaxed consistent with the requirements of the Service(s).

22. The eligibility for availing reservation against the vacancies reserved for the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities shall be the same as prescribed in “The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act, 2016)” : 
The candidates of Multiple Disabilities will be eligible for reservation under category (e)-Multiple Disabilities only of Section 34(1) of RPwD Act, 2016 and shall not be eligible for reservation under any other categories of disabilities i.e.
(a) to (d) of Section 34(1) of RPwD Act, 2016 on account of having 40% and above impairment in any of these categories of PwBD.

Provided further that the Persons with Benchmark Disability shall also be required to meet special eligibility criteria in terms of Functional Classification and Physical Requirements (abilities/disabilities) (FC&PR) consistent with
requirements of the identified service/post as may be prescribed by its cadre controlling authority. A list of Services identified suitable for Persons with Benchmark Disability along with the Functional Classifications and Physical
Requirements is at Appendix-IV. The Functional Classification and Physical Requirements (FC&PR) can, for example, be one or more of the following :

CODE       PHYSICAL  REQUIREMENTS

S                     Sitting 
ST                   Standing 
W                    Walking 
SE                   Seeing
H                     Hearing/Speaking
RW                 Reading and Writing
C                     Communication
MF                  Manipulation by Finger
PP                   Pushing & Pulling
L                     Lifting
KC                  Kneeling and Croutching
BN                  Bending
OH                  Orthopaedically Handicapped
VH                  Visually Handicapped
OA                  One Arm
OL                  One Leg
BA                  Both Arms
BL                  Both Legs
BH                  Both Hands
MW                Muscular Weakness
OAL               One Arm One Leg
BLA                Both Legs and Arms
BLOA             Both Legs One Arm
LV                  Low Vision
B                     Blind
D                     Deaf
HH                  Hard of Hearing
M                    Movement
CP                   Cerebral Palsy
LC                  Leprosy Cured
DW                 Dwarfism
CL                  Climbing
JU                   Jumping
AAV               Acid Attack Victims

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Courtesy: UPSC