HYDERABAD, July 11: Applicants for recently advertised posts by the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) staged protest demonstrations on Thursday and appealed to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah to relax the upper age limit.

The SPSC advertised a number of posts with the age limit for each post between 21 to 28 years of age.

The posts of grades 16 and 17 include 45 posts of assistant commissioners, 76 section officers, 12 excise and taxation officers, three assistant director labour, 18 labour officers, 24 Mukhtiarkars and four assistant director food controller.

Carrying banners and placards, candidates from various districts staged a protest sit-in outside the SPSC office and later held a demonstration outside the press club against the age limit. According to them the seats were last advertised in 2008 and since then the posts had not been announced.

This was frustrating for some of them as they wanted to apply but now because they were older hence they had become ineligible to sit the upcoming Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) to be held in November. They demanded that the CM relax the upper age limit by 10 to 15 years as a number of candidates had been preparing for the posts for a long time.

They claimed that the upper age limit for such posts in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was 35 years and in Balochistan it was 40 years whereas in Sindh it was 28 years which was unfair.

The applicants also said that even though the last date for submission of documents was Aug 8, no examination date was given except for the fact it would be held in November. They demanded a proper exam schedule and holding of exams in a transparent manner.