Popular searches
Tamil Nadu · Government Exams
TNPSC fills its engineering and technical posts — Assistant Engineers in the highways, public works, rural development and water resources departments, Junior Draughting Officers and Overseers, Assistant Directors of Town Planning, architects, surveyors — through the Combined Technical Services Examinations, notified three or four times a year in separate streams for degree-level non-interview posts, degree-level interview posts, and diploma and ITI-level posts. The Combined Engineering Services Examination that used to carry the Assistant Engineer posts has not been notified since 2023.
One stream was open when this page was checked. Notification No. 08/2026 for the interview posts, including a single Assistant Director of Town and Country Planning, takes applications until 6 October 2026. The non-interview stream of May 2026 — 461 posts, most of them Assistant Engineers — is in the middle of its examinations, and the diploma stream of July 2026, 839 posts, has closed and awaits its dates.
Tamil Nadu Technical Posts · checked 19 September 2026
The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.
Checked 19 September 2026
Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission
CTSE Interview Posts, No. 08/2026 — 170 posts; applications 7 September to 6 October 2026
Non-interview degree posts; interview degree posts; diploma and ITI posts — each its own notification
Paper I: Tamil 150 with a gate at 60, general studies and aptitude 150; Paper II: the subject, 300; interview 60 where it applies
Notification
Checked 11 September 2026. Notification No. 08/2026 of 31 August 2026 for the Combined Technical Services Examination (Interview Posts) takes applications from 7 September to 6 October 2026, 11.59 PM, with a correction window from 10 to 12 October. It carries 31 post codes and 170 vacancies, including one Assistant Director of Town and Country Planning. The commission’s planner projects the examination for 14 November 2026. The fee is ₹200, plus ₹200 for each additional subject paper.
| Stream | Notification | Posts | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| CTSE — Interview Posts | No. 08/2026, 31 August 2026 | 170 across 31 post codes, including Assistant Director of Town and Country Planning | Open to 6 October 2026; examination projected 14 November |
| CTSE — Non-Interview Posts | No. 04/2026, 20 May 2026 | 461 across 45 post codes as notified — Assistant Engineers in agricultural engineering 64, rural development 50, highways 38, water resources 33, public works 14 civil and 13 electrical, plus architects, planning assistants and corporation posts; revised by Addendum 4A | Closed 25 June; examinations across 16 to 20 August, 7 to 12 September and 19 September 2026 — civil engineering on 17 August, the Tamil and general studies paper on 19 September |
| CTSE — Diploma and ITI Level | No. 06/2026, 7 July 2026 | 839 across 56 post codes — Overseer and Junior Draughting Officer in rural development 129, JDO in water resources and public works 101, JDO highways 46, Road Inspector 149, Surveyor cum Assistant Draughtsman 32, Radio Supervisor 14 and others | Closed 15 August 2026; examination dates to be announced |
| Stream | Notification | Posts | Timetable |
|---|---|---|---|
| CTSE — Interview Posts | No. 08/2025, 7 May 2025 | 330, including three Assistant Directors of Town and Country Planning | Examined 20 to 22 July 2025; final publication list 10 June 2026 |
| CTSE — Non-Interview Posts | No. 09/2025, 21 May 2025 | 615 — Assistant Engineers in agricultural engineering 116, highways 92, rural development 41, water resources 38, pollution control 38, endowments 39, SIPCOT 17 | Examined 4 to 18 August 2025; final keys 22 January 2026; verification phases to 24 June 2026 |
| CTSE — Diploma and ITI Level | No. 10/2025, 13 June 2025 | 1,910 | Examined 31 August to 27 September 2025; final keys 25 February 2026; eleventh verification phase 10 September 2026 |
| CTSE — ITI Level II | No. 13/2025, 3 September 2025 | Field Assistant and trade posts | Examined 16 November 2025 |
| CTSE — Interview Posts II | No. 19/2025, 22 December 2025 | 76 | Examined 7 and 8 March 2026 |
Notification 23/2023 of October 2023 was the last CESE — Assistant Engineers in water resources, public works, highways, rural development, agricultural engineering, the electricity utility, the pollution control board and the water supply board, examined in January 2024 with the last supplemental list in October 2025. Since then the same posts have been notified inside the non-interview CTSE stream, on the same 450-mark scheme, and the commission’s 2026 planner lists no CESE. A candidate waiting for a CESE notification is waiting for a name the commission has stopped using.
Overview
The technical recruitment runs in streams. The non-interview stream carries the degree-level engineering posts — Assistant Engineer in highways, public works, rural development, water resources and the agricultural engineering department, Junior Architect, the engineering posts of the industrial corporations and the pollution control board — and selects on the written examination alone. The interview stream carries posts with an oral test of 60 marks, including the Assistant Director of Town and Country Planning. The diploma and ITI stream carries Junior Draughting Officer, Overseer, Road Inspector, Surveyor, Draughtsman and the trade posts, at diploma or certificate level.
They share a scheme. Paper I is a Tamil eligibility test of 100 questions for 150 marks — set in Tamil at SSLC standard, with a gate at 60 below which nothing else is marked — and then general studies and aptitude for 150. Paper II is the subject at the level of the post, 200 questions for 300 marks, on a computer. Four hundred and fifty marks in all, with a minimum of 180 for general candidates and 135 for reserved communities, and the interview stream adds 60 for a total of 510.
Part A of Paper I is 100 questions of SSLC-standard Tamil for 150 marks, and Parts B and C of Paper I and the whole of Paper II are evaluated only for candidates scoring 60. An engineer with a strong subject paper and no Tamil preparation can have 300 marks left unmarked. The syllabus is the tenth-standard state board Tamil, which is finite; the threshold is 40 per cent, which is modest for a candidate who prepares it.
Eligibility
| Post | Qualification | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Assistant Engineer — civil, electrical, agricultural | A degree in the branch of engineering the post names, from a recognised university | Minimum 21; general candidates to 32; no maximum for SC, SC(A), ST, MBC, BC and BC(M). Pollution control and industries posts carry their own ceilings |
| Assistant Director of Town and Country Planning | A post-graduate degree in town, urban or regional planning; or associate membership of the Institute of Architects or B.Arch with three years’ planning experience; or B.E. civil or highways, or AMIE civil, with two years’ | Minimum 21; general candidates to 32, not applicable to serving town planning officers; no maximum for reserved communities |
| Junior Draughting Officer, Overseer, Road Inspector | A diploma in civil engineering from the state technical board; a degree in civil engineering for the forest department’s JDO | Minimum 21; no maximum age for anyone — the ceiling of 60 applies |
| Surveyor, Draughtsman, Radio Supervisor and trade posts | The diploma or ITI certificate the post names | As notified per post; minimum 18 for some trade posts |
| Stream | Examination fee | Additional subject paper | Exemptions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-interview posts | ₹100 | ₹100 each | SC, SC(A), ST, disabled and destitute-widow candidates fully; BC, BC(M), MBC and DC three free chances; ex-servicemen two |
| Interview posts | ₹200 | ₹200 each | As above |
| Diploma and ITI level | ₹100 | — | As above |
Selection process
Each stage in order, and what it actually tests.
| Stage | Format | What it involves |
|---|---|---|
| Paper I — Tamil, general studies and aptitude | Objective, OMR or computer-based, three hours | Part A Tamil at SSLC standard, 100 questions for 150 marks, with a gate at 60; Part B general studies 75 and Part C aptitude 25 for 150 marks. Parts B and C are marked only for candidates who clear Part A. |
| Paper II — the subject | Objective, computer-based, three hours | Two hundred questions for 300 marks at the level of the post — degree for the Assistant Engineer stream, diploma or ITI for the diploma stream. Held on separate dates from Paper I. |
| Interview — interview stream only | Oral test, 60 marks | For the posts notified in the interview stream, an oral test assessing personality, aptitude and general and technical knowledge, added to the 450 written marks for a total of 510. |
| Certificate verification and counselling | Documents, then allotment | Onscreen and physical verification in phases, then counselling by rank and preference. The 2025 diploma stream was in its eleventh verification phase in September 2026. |
Exam pattern
| Paper | Content | Questions | Marks | Duration | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper I — Part A | Tamil eligibility test at SSLC standard, in Tamil | 100 | 150 | 3 hours for Paper I | Sixty required for Parts B and C and Paper II to be evaluated |
| Paper I — Part B | General studies | 75 | 150 for B and C | — | |
| Paper I — Part C | Aptitude and mental ability | 25 | — | ||
| Paper II | The subject, at the level of the post — degree, diploma or ITI | 200 | 300 | 3 hours | Computer-based |
| Interview | Interview stream only | — | 60 | — | Added to the written 450 |
| Total | 450, or 510 with interview | Minimum 180 general; 135 reserved |
None of the 2025 or 2026 technical notifications contains a deduction clause for a wrong answer; the only deductions are penalties for breaching examination instructions. The non-interview and diploma streams are, in the notification’s words, a single-stage written examination with selection on Parts B and C of Paper I and on Paper II. The interview stream adds an oral test of 60 marks assessing personality, bearing, aptitude and general and technical knowledge. A post appears in one stream or the other, and the notification says which.
TNPSC revises paper structure, marks, syllabus detail and eligibility between recruitment cycles, and has done so more than once in recent years — the Tamil eligibility component itself is a recent addition. Everything here describes the shape the recruitment has held; the notification for the cycle you are sitting is the document that decides it. Read it end to end before you plan around any figure.
Study plan
Sources
Checked 11 September 2026. Vacancies, eligibility, fees, the scheme of examination, the Tamil gate and the interview provision are quoted from the 2025 and 2026 Combined Technical Services notifications and their addenda; the CESE facts from Notification 23/2023; the timetables from the commission’s examination dashboard and press releases. The commission publishes the subject papers of recent streams without keys within days of the examination, final keys with results, and an older archive of Combined Engineering Services papers from 2007 and 2008.
CTSE Interview Posts No. 08/2026 — open CTSE Non-Interview Posts No. 04/2026 Addendum 4A — revised vacancies and power corporation posts Addendum 4B — examination schedule CTSE Diploma and ITI Level No. 06/2026 Press release on No. 06/2026 CTSE Non-Interview Posts No. 09/2025 CTSE Interview Posts No. 08/2025 CTSE Diploma and ITI Level No. 10/2025 CESE No. 23/2023 — the last engineering services examination Recent subject papers without keys CESE 2023 final key CTSE Non-Interview 2025 final key TNPSC annual planner
Exam resources
Six resource pages, each kept in step with the latest official notification.
Questions
Yes. Notification No. 08/2026 for the Combined Technical Services Examination (Interview Posts) — 170 posts across 31 post codes, including one Assistant Director of Town and Country Planning — takes applications from 7 September to 6 October 2026, with a correction window from 10 to 12 October and the examination projected for 14 November. The non-interview stream of May 2026 closed on 25 June and is mid-examination; the diploma stream of July 2026 closed on 15 August.
Assistant Engineer posts are notified in the non-interview stream of the Combined Technical Services Examination, which appeared in May in both 2025 and 2026 — 615 posts in 2025 and 461 in 2026 before addenda. The 2026 stream is mid-examination. No date for a 2027 stream is published. The Combined Engineering Services Examination has not been notified since 2023.
Paper I: Part A, Tamil at SSLC standard, 100 questions for 150 marks with a gate at 60; Parts B and C, general studies 75 and aptitude 25, for 150 marks — three hours. Paper II: the subject at the level of the post, 200 questions for 300 marks in three hours on a computer. Four hundred and fifty marks, with a minimum of 180 for general candidates and 135 for reserved communities; the interview stream adds an oral test of 60 for 510.
No. None of the 2025 or 2026 Combined Technical Services notifications contains a deduction clause for a wrong answer; the only deductions are penalties for breaching the examination instructions.
No. Assistant Engineer posts are in the non-interview stream, which the notification describes as a single-stage written examination with selection on Paper I Parts B and C and Paper II. The interview stream — with a 60-mark oral test — carries other posts, such as Assistant Director of Town and Country Planning.
A minimum of 21 for most posts. For the Assistant Engineer and town planning posts, general candidates to 32 as on 1 July 2026, with no maximum for SC, SC(A), ST, MBC, BC and BC(M) candidates. The diploma-level Overseer, Junior Draughting Officer and Road Inspector posts have no maximum age for anyone. Some corporation and pollution-control posts carry their own ceilings.
A one-time registration of ₹150 valid five years, plus an examination fee of ₹100 for the non-interview and diploma streams or ₹200 for the interview stream, with the same amount again for each additional subject paper. SC, SC(A), ST, disabled and destitute-widow candidates are exempt from examination fees; BC, BC(M), MBC and DC candidates have three free chances and ex-servicemen two.
Yes. The commission publishes the subject papers of each stream without keys within days of the examination — the 2026 civil engineering paper was on its site two days after it was sat — and final keys with the results. An older archive holds Combined Engineering Services papers from 2007 and 2008.
Read the syllabus, attempt a free mock, then fix the section that costs you the most marks.
Already practising? Create Free Account to track your preparation.
