SSC CGL 2026 — Combined Graduate Level Examination, Group B and C posts

By Rajesh Kumar Checked against the official notice on 25 August 2026

Type

Regular — Group B and Group C

Mode

Online

Fee

₹100 (women, SC, ST, PwBD and eligible ESM exempt)

Salary

Level 8: ₹47,600–₹1,51,100 · Level 7: ₹44,900–₹1,42,400

Selection

Tier-I and Tier-II computer based examinations

Location

All India — Ministries, Departments and Constitutional/Statutory Bodies

The Staff Selection Commission opened the Combined Graduate Level Examination, 2026 on 21 May 2026 and closed applications on 22 June 2026. Tier-I is scheduled for August–September 2026 and Tier-II for December 2026, both marked tentative on the face of the notice.

This page covers what the notice actually says. The application window has passed, but the eligibility rules, the fee position and the certificate requirements below are the ones this recruitment runs on, and Tier-I candidates are sitting the paper now.

What is this recruitment for?

CGL fills Group B and Group C posts across Ministries, Departments, Constitutional Bodies, Statutory Bodies and Tribunals. It is not one job — it is a single examination feeding dozens of cadres.

The notice sets the posts out by pay level. The two highest are:

Age limits are set per post, not once for the whole examination. The Assistant Section Officer post in the Central Secretariat Service is 20–30, while the Intelligence Bureau post at the same pay level is 18–30. Read the row for the post you want.

What did it cost to apply?

₹100. Five groups did not pay it.

Para 10.2 of the notice: “Women candidates and candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) and Ex-servicemen (ESM) eligible for reservation are exempted from payment of fee.”

OBC and EWS candidates are not on that list. A woman who is OBC or EWS was exempt, but on the strength of being a woman.

Payment was online only — BHIM UPI, net banking, or a Visa, Mastercard, Maestro or RuPay debit card.

The check that mattered: if the fee did not reach SSC, the application status shows as Incomplete, and that word is printed at the top of the application form printout. Such applications are summarily rejected.

What does the crucial date fix here?

The same thing it fixes everywhere, and the notice spells it out rather than leaving it to be misread.

The crucial date for claiming SC, ST, OBC, PwBD or ESM status, fee concession, reservation or age relaxation is the closing date for receipt of online applications — 22 June 2026 — where not specified otherwise.

And then: “The crucial date here does not mean that the date of certificate(s) should be before the closing date of application, it means that on the crucial date, the candidate(s) must fall under the categories SC/ST/OBC/PwBD/ESM, as applicable.”

For OBC candidates, para 6.5 adds that the candidate must not fall in the creamy layer on the crucial date, which it states plainly is the closing date of application.

Which EWS certificate does it want?

A specific one, and the notice names the order it comes from.

An EWS candidate must hold an Income & Asset certificate valid for Financial Year 2026-2027, issued on the basis of income for Financial Year 2025-2026, in accordance with DoPT O.M. No. 36039/1/2019-Estt (Res) dated 31 January 2019.

That is the standard formula — the certificate is valid for the year you apply in, and the income on it is the year before — filled in for this recruitment.

What were the dates?

Both examination dates carry the word “tentative” in the notice itself. Any page presenting them as fixed has added a certainty the Commission did not.

What happens at document verification

Nothing you submitted was checked when you submitted it. The notice is explicit that if verification of documents shows any information furnished in the application was wrong, the candidature is rejected forthwith.

That is the pattern across every SSC recruitment: the application is provisional, the scrutiny is later, and the burden of accuracy sits with the candidate.

Quick overview