Online Recruitment Applications (ORA*) are invited from desirous and eligible candidates for recruitment to 03 posts {Unreserved= 03} of Scientific Officer, Group -B (Job Trainee) in the Directorate of Forensic Services, Department of Home, Himachal Pradesh.
Post : Scientific Officer
Candidates may kindly note that the recruitment and engagement under this advertisement shall be governed as per the scheme for engagement of job trainees on fixed amount in the departments of the State Government issued vide Department of Personnel's notification No. Per(AP)-C-B(15)-3/2024 dated 19th July, 2025 and all subsequent orders/guidelines issued in this regard.
No of posts : 3 (UR-03)
Pay scale : Emoluments for Job Trainee (Rs. 28000/-per month)
Essential Qualification(s)
1. At least 2nd class M.Sc. in Forensic Science (with specialization/ dissertation work/ course work/ project work in the field of Chemical Sciences). OR At least 2nd class M.Sc. in Chemistry/ Bio-Chemistry/ Pharmacy/ M.S.(Pharm.)/ M.Pharm. degree from a recognized University.
2. Minimum three (03) years of post-qualification experience (acquired after obtaining the degrees mentioned above) in Research, Training and Analytical Work within any of the subjects as specified in (i) above. The experience certificate must be formally issued and signed by either the Research Supervisor or the Head of the Organization/ Department.
3. Any research work conducted specifically for the completion of a Ph.D. degree shall be counted towards the total required experience of three years.
Desirable Qualification
(i) Ph.D. Degree in one of the above subjects. (ii) Knowledge of customs, manners and dialects of Himachal Pradesh and suitability for engagement in the peculiar conditions prevailing in the Pradesh.
Eligibility Conditions
1. The date of determining the eligibility of all candidates in terms of essential qualification(s), experience, if any, shall be reckoned as on the closing date for submission of Online Recruitment Applications through ORA portal.
2. The reserved category candidates falling under vertical reservation i.e. S.C./S.T. /O.B.C./E.W.S. who are appointed on their own merit and not owing to reservation will not be adjusted against reserved points and they will be adjusted against unreserved points. The S.C. / S.T. candidate appointed on their own merit and adjusted against unreserved points will retain their status of S.C. / S.T. and will be eligible to get benefit of reservation in future / further promotions, if any. However, only such S.C. / S.T. / O.B.C. / E.W.S. candidates falling under vertical reservation who are selected on the same standard as applied to general candidates shall not be adjusted against reserved vacancies. In other words, when a relaxed standard is applied at any stage of selection process in selecting S.C. / S.T. / O.B.C. / E.W.S. candidates, for example in the age-limit, experience, qualification, permitted number of chances in written examination (screening test / written examination), extended zone of consideration larger than what is provided for general category candidates etc., the S.C. / S.T. / O.B.C. / E.W.S. candidates are to be counted against reserved vacancies. Such candidates would be deemed as unavailable for consideration against unreserved vacancies in accordance with the instructions of the Government (in the Department of Personnel) issued vide letter No. PER (AP)-C[1]F(1)-2/2001 dated 12 November, 2014. Further as per instructions of Government issued vide letter No. PER(AP)-C-F(4)- 1/2025 dated 24th September, 2026, a candidate belonging to horizontal reservation category i.e. Ex- servicemen/Wards of Ex-servicemen, Wards of Freedom Fighters, Persons with Disabilities, Distinguished Sportspersons and Antodaya/ B.P.L., who secures enough merit/marks to qualify at par with purely general/unreserved candidates shall be accommodated and migrated against the open/unreserved horizontal slots (or general unreserved pool) on the basis of merit, provided that they have not availed any relaxed standards. A Person with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) candidate selected on the basis of his/her own merit, without availing relaxed standards, is to be adjusted against unreserved (UR) vacancies and not against the quota reserved for PwBD category. The facility of scribe along with compensatory time shall not be treated as relaxed standard. It is also clarified that the disability of a person, which he/she is suffering from, shall not be treated as relaxed standard in medical fitness test for the purpose of 'own merit'. However, it does not debar or preclude a candidate falling under vertical / horizontal reservation from applying and competing for any unreserved post subject to his / her eligibility and clearing the written test / personality test successfully without any relaxation. 3. For recruitment to the post(s) to be filled up on the basis of experience, it will be necessary for the candidates to have the required experience for determining his/her eligibility after acquiring the requisite essential educational qualification(s) or as per the notified selection criteria, as the case may be.
4. The decision of the Commission regarding eligibility etc. of a candidate for admission to Personality Test or selection will be final and no correspondence / personal enquiries will be entertained.
5. Onus of proving that a candidate has acquired requisite degree/ essential qualification by the stipulated date, shall be on the candidate and in the absence of proof to the contrary, the date as mentioned on the face of certificate/ degree or the date of issue of certificate/degree shall be taken as date of acquiring essential educational qualification. No extra opportunity shall be provided to the candidates to produce appropriate certificates at the time of personality test(s).
Note
All candidates, whether already in Government Service, Government owned industrial undertakings or other similar organizations or in private employment should apply to the Commission through Online Web portal. Persons already in Government service, whether in a permanent or temporary capacity or as work charged employees other than casual or daily rated employees or those serving under Public Enterprises are however, required to inform their Head of Office/Department that they have applied for the Examination. They are also required to submit an undertaking on prescribed proforma that they have informed in writing their Head of Office/Department that they have applied for the Examination. The candidates should note that in case a communication is received from their employer by the Commission withholding permission to the candidates applying for/ appearing in the examination, their application/candidature is liable to be cancelled.
AGE- Between 18 to 45 years.
Age of a candidate shall be reckoned as on 01-01-2026
NOTE I : Candidates should note that only the date of birth as recorded in the matriculation/ Secondary Examination Certificate or an equivalent certificate as on the date of submission of applications will be accepted by the Commission and no subsequent request for its change will be considered or granted.
NOTE II : Candidates should also note that once a date of birth has been claimed by them and entered in the records of the Commission for the purpose of admission to an examination, no change will be allowed subsequently (or at any other examination of the Commission) on any grounds whatsoever.
NOTE III : The candidate should exercise due care while entering their date of birth in respective column of the application Form. If on verification at any subsequent stage, any variation is found in their date of birth from the one entered in their Matriculation or equivalent examination certificate, disciplinary action will be taken against them by the Commission under the Rules.
CLARIFICATION
Five years relaxation in upper age limit is admissible only to the Bonafide S.C. of H.P. / S.T. of H.P. / O.B.C. of H.P./W.F.F. of H.P./Persons with disabilities of Himachal Pradesh. For H.P. Govt. employees and Ex- Servicemen of H.P.; age relaxation is as per Government’s instructions issued from time to time and as mentioned in detail under title Age Limits. The age relaxation for bonafide S.C. of H.P. / S.T. of H.P. / O.B.C. of H.P. /W.F.F. of H.P./ Persons with disabilities of Himachal Pradesh/ Ex. Servicemen of H.P. is available only if there is a post reserved for these categories.
HOW TO APPLY
Detailed instructions for filling up Online Recruitment Application (ORA) are available on the website of the Commission i.e. hppsc.hp.gov.in/hppsc”.
1. Desirous/eligible candidates have to apply online through official website of the Commission i.e. hppsc.hp.gov.in/hppsc. Applications received through any other mode would not be accepted and will be rejected straightway.
2. The desirous and eligible candidate may visit the official website of the Commission (http://www.hppsc.hp.gov.in/hppsc) and click on the link “Apply Online” on the Home Page. On the opened page the candidate will click on the link “One Time Registration (OTR) for Examinations” and on the opened page will register and create his / her profile by clicking on “New Registration” if not registered already. After registration or if already registered the candidate will have to log into his / her account in OTR page, Once logged in, the list of live advertisements will be displayed to the candidate on the dashboard. Candidate will apply for a particular post through this portal only. The application of the candidate will be submitted only after uploading of requisite documents as per advertisement. Before submission of application, the candidate will have to give an undertaking/ declaration that:- “It is certified that I have checked the preview of all the requisite uploaded documents and I am satisfied that documents are legible, readable and true. That I shall not object to rejection of my candidature based on the sole reasons of uploaded documents being non-readable/ poor quality of scanning.”
3. Once submitted the candidate cannot make any corrections/ modifications to the application and should therefore, check all fields carefully before submission.
4. Online Recruitment Application (ORA) once submitted shall not be allowed any change except change of category as per procedure laid down in Rule 5(iv) of Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (Procedure and Transaction of Business) Rules, 2023" (As amended upto from time to time). Provided that if the status of any candidate changes during the recruitment process and he/she fails to submit relevant category certificate at the time of provisional rejection, he/she will be considered as unreserved candidate subject to his/her fulfilling all eligibility conditions required for unreserved category and not availing any relaxed standard.
5. Application without scanned latest photograph or signature shall be rejected straightaway.
Examination Stations/Cities : SHIMLA
Note-1: The centre(s) of holding the examination(s) are liable to be changed at the discretion of the Commission. However, every effort will be made to allot the examination centre(s) of their choice to the candidates. But, the Commission may, at its discretion, allot a different centre to a candidate when circumstances so warrant.
EXAMINATION FEES:-
A uniform fee shall be charged from all the candidates, irrespective of their category or gender.
Fees : Rs. 600.00
Mode of Payment:- The desirous & eligible candidates shall pay the examination fee through online by Debit Card/Credit Card/UPI/ any other online digital mode, as the case may be, on or before the prescribed closing date for submission of Online Recruitment Applications OTR portal. While making payment the candidate(s) shall pay specified amount only after accepting the "Terms and Conditions to apply online". Fee once paid shall neither be refunded under any circumstance nor can it be held in reserve for any other examination or selection. NOTE : Candidates should note that payment of fee can be made only through the modes prescribed above. Payment of fee through any other mode is neither valid nor acceptable. Applications submitted without the prescribed fee/mode shall be summarily rejected.
Scheme of Examination:
Selection to the Posts/ Services where no selection procedure has been prescribed will be done as per selection procedure mentioned below: (i) Where there are only few posts for filling up and ratio between the number of eligible candidates and the posts advertised is six or below then all of them shall be directly called for Personality Test. (ii) In all other cases the selection will be done by the Commission by subjecting the applicants to two types of written papers/ tests to be conducted on the same day in two sessions, followed by a Personality Test in the following manner:-
a) Paper-I
A computer Based Test (CBT) or Offline Screening Test of one hour duration as per detailed syllabus as available on the official website of the Commission having 100 marks consisting of objective type Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) with negative marking for incorrect/ wrong answers as follows:-
I. General knowledge of Himachal Pradesh= 30 Marks
II. General knowledge of National and International Affairs = 30 Marks
III. Knowledge of Hindi language = 20 Marks
IV. Knowledge of English language = 20 Marks
b) Paper-II
A descriptive Subject Aptitude Test (SAT) of three hours duration having 120 marks as per the syllabus to be decided by the Commission from time to time.
Provided that test shall be conducted in a single slot with same question paper and in different slots with different sets of question papers depending upon the total number of candidates who have to take the test and the number of computer terminals available to the commission at the particular date for Computer Based Screening Test. Also both the Papers will be conducted on the same day in morning and evening sessions at any place in Himachal Pradesh as per decision of the Commission. Based on the merit of Paper-I, the answer sheets of Paper-II of the candidates shall be evaluated as per the given table.
No candidates securing zero or negative marks in Paper-I shall form part of merit list:
No. of Posts : No. of Answer Sheets to be evaluated
Upto 25 : 20 times the number of vacancies advertised
26 and above : 500 +05 answer sheets for every subsequent post
(i) “Both in the Computer Based Test (CBT) and offline Test (objective type) each question will be followed by four (A, B, C, D) answer options and one option ‘E’ in case candidate does not want to answer the question. There shall be negative marking in all the objective type screening tests /examinations (CBT or Offline Test). The candidate will have to click or encircle / blacken with blue / black ball pen on the circle adjacent to the option he / she thinks is correct in the computer or in OMR answer sheet as the case may be. No answer will be left blank. In case the candidate does not want to answer a question to avoid negative marking he/she shall have to encircle / blacken the option ‘E’. If any answer is left blank and none of the option is clicked / encircled then it will also result in negative marking.
(ii) The answer key of CBT (Objective Type) shall be uploaded online on the “MY EXAMINATION MY ONLINE REVIEW” in the User IDs of all appeared candidates while that of offline test, shall be uploaded on the website of the Commission immediately after the conduct of test and depositing of the answer sheets in the Commission, for inviting objection(s) from the appeared candidates. A time period of 05 (five) days excluding the day of publishing of answer key shall be given to them to submit their objection(s) with supporting documents/references. A non-refundable fee of Rs. 100/- per objected question will be charged from the candidates. The objections have to be filed in online mode only through the HPPSC website by uploading the supporting documents. No other mode shall be entertained and no objection shall be entertained/considered without depositing the requisite fees.”
(iii) The received objection(s), if any, will be got verified from the two Subject Experts/Paper Setter. Based on the opinion/decision of the Subject Experts/Paper Setter to the objection(s) raised by the candidates, the revised answer key shall be prepared and finalized. If there is any disagreement or conflict in the opinion of the Subject Experts/Paper Setter, in that eventuality the opinion of third Subject Expert will be sought and majority opinion will be treated as final. In respect of the scrapped question(s) no credit to appeared candidates shall be given and passing marks will accordingly be proportionally reduced. The final answer key along with question paper shall be uploaded on the website of the Commission after the declaration of the result. No objection(s)/representation(s) shall be entertained against the final answer key.
(iv) In case of SAT, if there is any discrepancy in the question paper due to typographical / printing error or question being out of syllabus and the same is noticed by the Commission after the conduct of examination or pointed out by the candidates within 05 (five) days of examination, the same shall be got verified from the Subject Expert / Paper Setter. Based on the opinion of the Subject Expert / Paper Setter to the objection(s) final decision shall be taken.
(v) In case of bilingual papers, if there is any difference in English and Hindi version of the question and answer option, the English version shall be treated as correct and final.
Note:- There shall be negative marking in all the objective type screening tests/ examinations (Computer Based Test or Offline Test) including those conducted under the notified rules where there is no specific mention about it in the rules as detailed below:-
1. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one fourth (0.25) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
2. If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer even if one of the given answers happens to be correct and there will be same penalty as above for that question also i.e. one fourth (0.25) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
3. If a question is left blank i.e. no circle is clicked or encircled/ blackened by the candidate, there will be same penalty as above for that question also i.e. one fourth (0.25) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
4. Where there are two correct answers instead of one correct answer out of four options (A,B,C,D) of a question, all those candidates, who will click or encircle/blacken any one of these two correct answers will be awarded marks allotted to that question. (vi) Minimum pass marks in the Subject Aptitude Test (SAT) to qualify for the Personality Test shall be 45% for the candidates of General category and 40% for the candidates of reserved categories. Those securing less than the prescribed marks will be disqualified and will not be considered for the remaining selection process. (vii) After finalization of answer key of Paper-I the candidate responses of CBT of each candidate in case of Computer Based Test will be evaluated and in case of offline Test the OMR answer sheets of the candidates shall be scanned in the OMR Scanner and evaluated by using the final answer key. Based on the merit of Paper-I, the Paper-II shall be evaluated to prepare category-wise zone of consideration in the following ratio.
1 to 10 : 1:5+3
11 and above : 1:5
In case, if the ratio between the number of eligible candidates and the posts advertised is below 20 the eligible candidates will only be required to appear for Paper-II followed by personality test.
(viii) After scrutinizing the online recruitment applications category-wise / post-wise properly, the candidates fulfilling the prescribed eligibility criteria shall be admitted and the candidates not fulfilling the prescribed eligibility criteria shall be rejected provisionally.
(ix) The list of rejected candidates shall also be uploaded on the official website of the Commission as well as individually against their USER ID. SMS alert /e-mail shall also be sent to such candidates. The provisionally rejected candidates(s) will be allowed time of 10 (ten) days including Sunday and holidays to submit their representations, along with requisite documents, either through e-mail or in person only. The same shall then be scrutinized and all record concerning scrutiny will be put up before the Commission for approval and the decision of the Commission in this regard shall be final. No objection(s)/ representation(s) shall be entertained against the final rejection. (x) After decision of the Commission on such representations, the list of finally rejected candidates shall be uploaded on the official website of the Commission as well as individually against their USER ID. No separate correspondence shall be made with any candidate by any official of the Commission unless he/ she is specially permitted to do so. Examination fee will not be refunded to the candidate whose applications stand rejected by the Commission for any reason(s).
(xi The original documents of the candidates admitted provisionally to appear in the Personality Test/Document Verification shall be checked/ scrutinized on the day of Personality Test/Document Verification.
(xii) Written test shall be followed by a Personality Test. The Personality Test shall be of 30 marks and be held only in the Commission's office at Shimla. Minimum pass marks in Personality Test shall be 40% i.e. 12 marks for the candidates of general category and 30% i.e. 09 marks for the candidates of reserved categories.
(xiii) Normally four eligible candidates for a single post and three eligible candidates for every subsequent post will be declared qualified for appearing in the Personality Test on the basis of Computer Based Test/ Offline Test (objective or descriptive). If, the number of qualified candidates in a particular category is fewer, then all of them will be called for Personality Test. In case there is a tie between or amongst the candidates on account of having obtained equal minimum cut off marks in the test all such candidates shall be called for the Personality Test. Marks obtained by the candidates in the SAT (120 marks) plus marks in the Personality Test (30 marks) would determine their final ranking / selection. Provided that in exceptional case(s) the method of selection to the advertised post(s) shall be decided by the Commission as it may deem fit. (xiv) Contract/Casual/adhoc/ daily rated/ work charged employees do not need to produce NOC from the concerned employer. The candidates who are in Government service (regular service) may apply to the Commission along with requisite examination fees with information to their Head of Departments / Employer for issuing NOC. Any candidates, who are in regular Government Service or Government owned Industrial service, will not be allowed to participate in the process of document verification unless he/she produces NOC from the concerned employer.
Other Conditions:-
1. The eligibility of candidate(s) called for the Personality Test will be determined on the basis of original documents produced on the day of Personality Test and the Commission will not be responsible if the candidature of any candidate is rejected at that stage or at the time of verification by the Appointing Authority. As such, admission to the Screening Test/ Examination/ Personality Test shall be purely provisional.
2. If any candidates appears in the Screening Test at the centre other than the allotted centre, his / her candidature will be rejected straightway and no correspondence will be entertained in the matter.
3. The number of vacancies to be filled in on the basis of this Screening Test may increase or decrease.
4. Summoning of the candidate(s) for Personality Test; conveys no assurance whatsoever that they will be selected or recommended. Appointment orders to the selected candidate(s) will be issued by the appropriate Appointing Authority.
5. Re-checking/ re-evaluation, for the written examination(s)/ Screening Tests (Computer Based Test/ Offline Test) will not be allowed in any case.
6. It may be ensured by the candidates before submitting the applications that furnishing false information and documents or suppression of any factual information in the application form would entail disqualification. If the fact that false information / document(s) has been furnished or that there has been suppression of any factual information in the application; comes to the notice at any time during the service of a person, his service would be liable to be terminated.
Syllabus
Detailed syllabus of Paper-II ( Descriptive Subject Aptitude Test ) will be uploaded on the official website of the Commission shortly for which link will be provided.
M. CATEGORY CLAIMS:- 1. The category of the candidate claimed in the profile before he / she applies for the post shall be treated as final. In case the candidate has inadvertently filled his category wrongly in the ORA or his / her category undergoes a change before the prescribed closing date for submission of online recruitment application through OTR portal then such candidate shall have to get his / her application modified by requesting the Commission to that effect in writing. However, in cases where candidate finds out at later stage that he / she has wrongly filled his category in the ORA or there is change of category which is beyond the control of the candidate, provided he / she has not availed any relaxed standards in terms of age, experience, qualification etc., he / she will inform about it in writing to the Commission within 15 days after the conduct of screening test / preliminary examination [provided the result has not been declared] failing which no such type of requests shall be entertained by the Commission. Decision of Commission on his / her request to change the category shall be final. Provided that if status of any candidate changes during the recruitment process and he/she fails to submit relevant category certificate at the time of provisional rejection, he/she will be considered as unreserved candidate subject to his/her fulfilling all eligibility conditions required for unreserved category and not availing any relaxed standard.
2. S.C. of Himachal Pradesh / S.T. of Himachal Pradesh / O.B.C. of Himachal Pradesh/ E.W.S. of Himachal Pradesh/ W.F.F. of Himachal Pradesh / Ex-Servicemen of Himachal Pradesh and Physically Disabled of Himachal Pradesh candidates must possess such certificates(s) in support of their claims made in the online recruitment applications while applying for the concerned post(s). If any B.P.L. candidate applies for the post reserved for EWS category he/she shall have to submit a valid B.P.L. certificate countersigned by the Block Development Officer and also a non-SC/ST/OBC certificate issued by the competent authority. The benefit of reservation will be admissible on parental basis only. All the candidates belonging to reserved categories are also required to go through the relevant instructions of the Government of Himachal Pradesh issued from time to time in order to ensure that they are eligible under a particular category.
3. The statutory certificates like Bonafide Himachali, SC, ST, WFF and legal heir issued on parentage basis on the prescribed format are of permanent nature and are acceptable to the Commission. However, the certificates of O.B.C. on parentage basis on the prescribed format and E.W.S. also on the prescribed format issued by the competent authority to be valid not only for the relevant term of the financial year but also covering the prescribed closing date(s) for submission of online recruitment application through OTRS and application form for the main (written) examination, if any. The latest certificate issued by the competent authority along with self undertaking stating that his / her status has not been changed and he / she is not excluded from the category of O.B.C. or E.W.S. or B.P.L. will have to be submitted by the candidate to the Commission as and when asked by the Commission as well as on the day of main (written) examination and Personality Test / document verification.
IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS:-
1. The candidates must read instructions carefully, which are available on website of the Commission before applying for the post(s) concerned.
2. The candidates must ensure their eligibility in respect of category, experience, age and essential qualification(s) etc. as mentioned in the advertisement by uploading copies of certificates of Essential Qualification, Matriculation certificate as age proof, Category Certificate along with Bonafide certificate of H.P. and Experience Certificate (where required) to avoid rejection of their candidature after the closing date.
3. The candidates should possess requisite essential qualification(s) prescribed for the post(s) for which he/she wants to apply as mentioned in Eligibility Criteria of this advertisement on the closing date of ORA and are required to upload the requisite documents on the OTRS portal.
4. The benefit of reservation for various post(s) will be admissible only to the candidates, who are Bonafide residents of Himachal Pradesh in respect of categories, viz. Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), Economically Weaker Section (E.W.S.), Ex. Servicemen, Ward of Ex. Servicemen, Ward of Freedom Fighter (W.F.F.) and Persons with benchmark Disabilities (Loco motor Disabled / Visually Impaired / Hearing Impaired) etc.
5. The reserved category candidates belonging to other States will be treated as General Category Candidates and the benefit of reservation and fee concession will not be admissible to such candidates.
6. No in service (regular service) candidate will be interviewed unless he/she produces NOC (No Objection Certificate) from concerned employer.
7. Examination Fee once paid will not be refunded.
8. The candidates must mention their e-mail & mobile No. correctly in their Online Recruitment Application for receiving alerts and messages relating to Examination.
9. The candidates should also give their Aadhar No. (optional) in the appropriate field of the ORA.
10. Disputes, if any, shall be subject to Court jurisdiction at Shimla.
Note:- The entry into the examination venue shall be closed 30 minutes before the scheduled commencement of the examination.
Advertisement Number : 65/10-2026
Closing Date for Application : 03/11/2026 11:59 PM
Closing Date for Fee : 03/11/2026 11:59PM
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