BC (Backward Class)
Tamil Nadu's largest reservation category, holding 26.5% of vacancies (excluding BCM). Claimed with a community certificate at verification.
For degree-level exams like Group 1 and 2, BC candidates get an upper age limit of 34 against 32 for others, and for Group 4 there is no upper limit at all. The claim rests on a permanent community certificate that must match your OTR entries exactly; a claim that cannot be proved at verification is simply not counted.
Related terms
BCM (Backward Class Muslim)
A 3.5% reservation carved out of the BC quota for Muslims belonging to notified backward communities in Tamil Nadu.
MBC (Most Backward Class)
A 20% reservation category for Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities in Tamil Nadu government recruitment.
PSTM (Persons Studied in Tamil Medium)
A 20% preferential reservation within each category for candidates who studied their qualifying education in Tamil medium.
Communal Rotation
The 200-point roster Tamil Nadu uses to distribute vacancies across categories (GT, BC, BCM, MBC/DNC, SC, SCA, ST) in a fixed repeating order.
Reservation Roster
The running register that tracks which roster point each appointment consumed, ensuring reservation percentages hold across recruitment cycles.
GT (General Turn)
Vacancies open to all candidates purely on merit, regardless of community. Reserved-category candidates who make the general merit are counted against GT, not their quota.
This definition follows official TNPSC notifications and Tamil Nadu government orders. Sources: TNPSC official notifications. Figures are indicative and may change with each official notification. Data last reviewed: July 2026.
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