If you want a Haryana government job, the first thing to work out is which body recruits for the post you want. Haryana's recruitment runs through a few channels, and each has its own rules, portal and exam format. This guide sets out how they work in 2026, using the official advertisements and notices that the recruiting bodies have published. Every date and number below comes from a document linked in the text. Where something has not been announced yet, the guide says so.
Who recruits for what in Haryana
| Recruiting body | Typical posts | How selection works (per current notices) |
|---|---|---|
| Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) | Group C and Group D posts in state departments, boards and corporations, including police constables and school teachers | Common Eligibility Test (CET) first, then a post-specific exam or test for Group C. Group D merit is based on CET marks |
| Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) | Group A and B posts, such as HCS (Executive Branch) and allied services, lecturers, engineers and officers | Post-wise advertisements. Exams can include a screening test, a subject knowledge test and an interview |
The police department fills constable posts through HSSC. The HSSC (Process of Recruitment of Group C and D Posts) Rules, 2025 treat them as "Group C posts of police service". The rules are reproduced as an appendix to HSSC Advt. No. 05/2026. HSSC's public notices from July 2026 list Physical Screening Tests for Male Constable (GD), Male Constable (GRP) and Female Constable posts under Advt. No. 01/2026.
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The CET is a first filter for most HSSC jobs. The current rules are set by three documents: the CET policy notified on 31 December 2024 (amended in July 2025), the HSSC process rules of 27 May 2025, and the Haryana Group-D Employees Act, 2018. All three are attached to HSSC's CET Group D advertisement, Advt. No. 05/2026 (published 18 June 2026).
The policy sets these rules:
- Separate CETs are held for Group C and Group D posts.
- Qualifying marks: 50% for general category and 40% for reserved categories (vertical and horizontal).
- Validity: CET marks are valid for three years from the date the result is declared. If you sit again and improve your marks, a fresh three-year period starts from the new result.
- Unlimited attempts: the policy places no limit on how many times you can take the CET to improve your score.
- Fee: the standard processing fee is Rs 1,000. Concessions depend on category, gender and residence, and on whether you register with a Parivar Pehchan or Aadhaar number. One fee covers a single sitting of CET for both Group C and D. Re-appearing to improve your marks needs a fresh fee.
Group D: CET marks decide the merit list
Advt. No. 05/2026 states that Group D selection uses 100% CET marks. The paper is 100 multiple-choice questions for 100 marks in 1 hour 45 minutes. It is set at Matriculation level, printed in English and Hindi, and taken offline on OMR sheets. The essential qualification for most Group D posts is Matriculation with Hindi or Sanskrit as a subject (Sweepers and Chowkidars are exceptions).
HSSC extended the application deadline to 5 July 2026 (fee by 8 July). The advertisement says the exam date "will be communicated separately", so check HSSC's public notices for the schedule. The same advertisement notes that candidates who qualified the earlier Group D CET (12 January 2024) remain valid until 11 January 2027. Their marks, which were out of 95, will be converted to percentages so that both groups can share one merit list.
Group C: CET, then a post-specific exam
For Group C, the CET only makes you eligible to apply. When HSSC advertises actual posts, it invites applications from CET-qualified candidates. For most posts other than police and teaching, it calls up to 10 times the number of advertised posts for the written or skill test. Anyone tied at the cut-off CET score is also called. You need at least 50% in that second-stage exam (40% for reserved categories) to be considered.
Advt. No. 06/2026 (CET Phase-II for Group C) shows how this works. Published on 22 June 2026, it was open only to candidates who had qualified the Group C CET under Advt. No. 01/2025, with applications from 24 to 30 June 2026 and no application fee. Several posts in its appendix require Hindi or Sanskrit as a subject in Matric or higher education, so check this before you apply.
Police and teaching posts follow different second stages. Police candidates go through a qualifying Physical Measurement Test and Physical Screening Test before the written test. Teaching posts require the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test (HTET), but HTET marks do not count towards the merit list.
Worked example: the "fifth bubble" rule
HSSC's Group C and D papers follow a scoring rule that is easy to miss. Wrong answers carry no negative marking. However, if you skip a question, you must fill the fifth bubble on the OMR sheet. Each unattempted question without the fifth bubble filled costs one mark.
Illustrative scenario: a candidate in a 100-question, 100-mark paper gets 82 right and 10 wrong, and leaves 8 unanswered. They fill the fifth bubble for 5 of the 8 and forget for 3.
| Item | Marks |
|---|---|
| 82 correct answers × 1 | +82 |
| 10 wrong answers | 0 |
| 5 skipped with fifth bubble filled | 0 |
| 3 skipped with no bubble filled | −3 |
| Score | 79 / 100 |
The practical lesson: a blank row costs you a mark, and a wrong guess does not. Practise filling OMR sheets under time pressure before the exam.
HPSC: the HCS (Executive Branch) and allied services exam
HPSC's Advt. No. 22/2026, published on 30 January 2026 (HPSC's notices call this the HCS (Ex. Br.) & Other Allied Services Examination – 2025), advertised 102 posts: 24 HCS (Executive Branch), 8 DSP, 27 ETO, 22 AETO and smaller numbers of other allied posts. Applications closed on 26 February 2026. Key points from the advertisement:
- Eligibility: a Bachelor's degree in Arts, Science or Commerce, or an equivalent degree from a recognised university.
- Age: 18 to 42 years on 1 January 2026, and 18 to 27 for DSP, with category-wise relaxations.
- Fee: Rs 1,000 for general candidates and Rs 250 for listed Haryana reserved categories and Haryana women. PwBD candidates of Haryana pay nothing.
- Preliminary exam: General Studies plus the Civil Services Aptitude Test, 100 marks each. A quarter mark is deducted for each wrong answer. CSAT is qualifying at 33%, and up to 12 times the number of vacancies move on to the Mains.
- Main exam: six descriptive papers for 600 marks, including English and a Hindi paper in Devanagari script. You need 45% in aggregate and 33% in each language paper to be called for interview.
- Interview: 75 marks. The final merit list is out of 675.
HPSC's homepage lists interview schedules for this cycle from 21 September 2026 and interview marks dated 8 October 2026. To prepare for the next HCS exam, download the syllabus and previous question papers from HPSC rather than relying on summaries.
Reservation and residence: what the notices actually say
Haryana's notices separate eligibility from reservation. HSSC Advt. No. 06/2026 says reservation benefits (DSC, OSC, BC-A, BC-B, EWS, ESM) go only to bonafide residents of Haryana. Reserved-category candidates from other states can still apply but compete as general category. If you claim a category, check the certificate format and issue-date window in the advertisement. For example, Advt. No. 05/2026 required BC-A, BC-B and EWS certificates issued on or after 1 April 2026.
A 2026 checklist before you apply
- Find the right body. Group C and D posts and police constable posts go through HSSC. HCS and most Group A and B posts go through HPSC.
- Check your CET status. Note your result date and work out when your three-year validity ends.
- Confirm the language condition. Several posts require Hindi or Sanskrit in Matric or higher education.
- Prepare category documents. Get them issued within the date window the advertisement specifies.
- Read the post-specific advertisement. Age is counted on the date it specifies (the closing date for HSSC's CET, 1 January 2026 for HPSC's HCS advertisement), and qualifications must be held by its stated cut-off.
- Watch the official notices only. Exam dates, PST schedules and answer keys appear on HSSC public notices and the HPSC homepage.
For a general method of turning a commission's syllabus into a study plan, see our guide to state PSC preparation.
What is not announced yet
As of 9 October 2026, the HSSC advertisement for the Group D CET (Advt. No. 05/2026) gives no exam date. Vacancy totals for future HSSC Group C posts appear only in each post-specific advertisement. Treat any "expected vacancies" figure you see elsewhere as unofficial until HSSC or HPSC publishes it.