Pick the certificate type, enter its dates, and see whether it is valid for your exam's crucial date — the verdict names the official rule that decided it. Caste, EWS, income and OBC-NCL follow genuinely different rules; each also has its own dedicated checker page.
This checks dates, not your income eligibility
Every verdict shows the DoPT text and the crucial date it used.
Enter the certificate issue date and financial year — the DV crucial date 28-10-2026 falls in financial year 2026-2027, so an EWS certificate must be valid for 2026-2027.
The printed "valid for 1 year from date of issue" line does not govern central recruitment — the financial-year rule does, and an unexpired certificate can still be rejected for the wrong financial year.
Assumption used. Crucial date taken as the MPPSC Scientific Officer 2026 application closing date (source dated 2026-03-16). If your notification or DV call letter fixes a different crucial date, enter it above.
Rule applied (official source). DoPT OM No. 36039/1/2019-Estt(Res), dated 31.01.2019, Para 4.1: "Income shall also include income from all sources i.e. salary, agriculture, business, profession, etc. for the financial year prior to the year of application." DoPT EWS FAQ worked example: "if the closing date for receipt of application for a post is 1st August 2022, the financial year for computing gross annual income of the family shall be 2021-2022 and the certificate shall be valid for 2022-2023." DoPT OM No. 36039/1/2019-Estt(Res) dated 31.01.2019, Para 4.1 + DoPT EWS FAQ No. 43011/11/2022-Estt.(Res-II) dated 19.09.2022, Q21/Q23 checked 2026-08-10.
EWS accepts only the Annexure-I Income & Asset Certificate, issued by the competent authority named in the OM. Source: DoPT OM 36039/1/2019-Estt(Res), 31.01.2019 — EWS Annexure-I (dated 2019-01-31, verified 2026-08-06).
The checker's verdicts and this table read the same rule rows — a verdict always names the row that decided it.
| Where it applies | Validity | What decides | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central recruitment and admissions (SSC, UPSC, RRB, MCC AIQ counselling) | No expiry — treated as permanent | No central rule puts an age on an SC/ST caste certificate. Recruiters test whether you belong to the category on the crucial date (normally the application closing date), never how old the certificate is — SSC states the certificate date does not have to be before the closing date. No single central OM literally says 'valid for life' — permanence is the settled operational rule inferred from three official documents that impose zero age condition on SC/ST certificates. | SSC CGL 2026 Notice para 6.4 + DoPT OM No. 36033/4/97-Estt.(Res.) dated 25.07.2003 + MCC NEET-PG 2025 bulletin (convergent official documents) Inferred from convergent official documents — checked 2026-08-10 |
| Maharashtra — government jobs and admissions | No expiry, but a separate Caste Validity Certificate is required | Maharashtra additionally requires a Caste Validity Certificate from a district Caste Scrutiny Committee (Maharashtra Act XXIII of 2001) for jobs and admissions — an extra verification layer on top of the caste certificate, not an expiry. Confirm the scrutiny-committee requirement with the recruiting body or admitting institution in Maharashtra. | Maharashtra Act XXIII of 2001 (caste certificate scrutiny) — primary Act text not fetched this cycle Reported — primary order not yet fetched — checked 2026-08-10 |
| State-government schemes and state-list certificates | Set by each state/scheme | Some state portals and schemes ask OBC (state-list) holders — and occasionally SC/ST holders — to renew every 1-3 years for state purposes. No central rule governs these; the consuming scheme's own freshness rule decides. Check the exact rule printed in the scheme's own notification before relying on an old certificate. | State portal practice; no central OM applies to state-purpose freshness demands Reported — primary order not yet fetched — checked 2026-08-10 |
| Where it applies | Validity | What decides | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central recruitment (DoPT rule, all-India) | The financial year of application — dies 31 March regardless of issue date | Family income is computed for the financial year prior to the year of application, and the certificate is valid for the financial year of application. A certificate issued after the crucial date and for a later FY is a major discrepancy; a certificate missing both the financial year and the validity year may invite rejection. The printed "valid for 1 year from date of issue" line does not govern central recruitment — the financial-year rule does, and an unexpired certificate can still be rejected for the wrong financial year. | DoPT OM No. 36039/1/2019-Estt(Res) dated 31.01.2019, Para 4.1 + DoPT EWS FAQ No. 43011/11/2022-Estt.(Res-II) dated 19.09.2022, Q21/Q23 Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| SSC exams | The notification's financial year | SSC applies the DoPT rule by name: for CGL 2026 the certificate must be valid for FY 2026-2027, issued on the basis of income for FY 2025-2026. The crucial date is the application closing date unless the notice fixes otherwise; individual DV notices can fix a different crucial date. | SSC CGL 2026 Notice, paras 6.4-6.6 (crucial date 22.06.2026) Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| RRB / Railways | The notification's financial year | The EWS Income & Asset certificate must be based on Income & Assets for the financial year prior to the notification (FY 2024-25 for CEN 09/2025) and possessed as on the closing date — otherwise the reservation claim is rejected and the candidate is considered as UR. | RRB CEN No. 09/2025 (Level-1), detailed CEN updated 30.01.2026, EWS paras Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| MCC NEET counselling (AIQ) | Income year fixed by the counselling bulletin | For NEET-PG 2025 counselling, the family income/status must be based on the financial year ending 31 March 2025. MCC checks validity at counselling/document verification, not at NEET registration — cross-FY registrations are the failure mode. | NEET-PG (MD/MS/DNB) Counselling 2025 Information Bulletin & Counselling Scheme, MCC/DGHS Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| Where it applies | Validity | What decides | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central default (DoPT) | No fixed validity | DoPT states it is not possible to determine a fixed validity period for the OBC certificate. Non-creamy-layer status must hold on the crucial date — treated as the application closing date except where a notice fixes otherwise — and a self-declaration of current NCL status is required in the prescribed format. | DoPT OM No. 36033/4/97-Estt.(Res.) dated 25.07.2003 Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| SSC exams | Any issue date — NCL status on the closing date decides | SSC will not insist on a certificate issued within the crucial/cut-off date: the candidate must simply not be in the creamy layer on the closing date, backed by a self-declaration and verified at document verification. | SSC CGL 2026 Notice, paras 6.4-6.6 Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| RRB / Railways | Issue date must fall in [1 April of the notification FY, closing date] | The OBC-NCL certificate must be issued on or after 1 April of the notification's financial year (01.04.2025 for CEN 09/2025) but not later than the closing date of the online application, plus an Annexure-IIA self-declaration of NCL status on the closing date — failure means the claim is not accepted and the candidate may be considered as UR. RRB is stricter than SSC: the issue date itself must fall inside the notification-FY window, not just the status. | RRB CEN No. 09/2025 (Level-1), para 8.5, detailed CEN updated 30.01.2026 Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| The one-financial-year convention (many recruiters) | Certificate issued in FY N accepted for recruitment April N - March N+1 | A DoPT OM dated 31.03.2016 circulates the convention that a certificate issued in any month of a financial year serves appointments in that FY, with income measured over the 3 preceding financial years. The document is textually a draft placed for 30-day comments, yet RRB, MCC and many state PSCs enforce its FY window — so attribute the rule to each recruiter's own notice, not to DoPT. No finalized version of this OM surfaced — the checker never cites it as a universal rule, only per recruiter. | DoPT OM F.No. 36036/2/2013-Estt.(Res-I) dated 31.03.2016 (draft circulated for comments; mirror copy) Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| MCC NEET counselling (AIQ) | Income year fixed by the counselling bulletin | For NEET-PG 2025 counselling, parental income/status must be based on the financial year ending 31 March 2025, and the OBC sub-caste must appear in the Central OBC list — a state-list certificate is invalid for the All India Quota. | NEET-PG (MD/MS/DNB) Counselling 2025 Information Bulletin & Counselling Scheme, MCC/DGHS Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| Where it applies | Validity | What decides | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh | 3 years from the issue date | UP extended income-certificate validity from 6 months to 3 years by a September 2011 government order; computation standards are fixed by Board of Revenue GO No. 669/Ek-1-9-2014-11(2)/2011 dated 24.07.2014. Issued via eDistrict/eSathi by the Tehsildar. The 3-year duration is consistent across UP scholarship-ecosystem sources, but the 2011 validity GO itself was not retrievable this cycle. | UP GO of Sept 2011 (reported; exact shasanadesh number unretrieved) + Board of Revenue GO dated 24.07.2014 Reported — primary order not yet fetched — checked 2026-08-10 |
| Bihar (RTPS) | 1 year from the issue date | Bihar income certificates issued through RTPS state on their face that they are valid for one year from the date of issue; caste and permanent-residence certificates carry no expiry. Issued free via serviceonline.bihar.gov.in. | RTPS Bihar guidance + the validity line printed on Bihar income certificates (underlying circular unlocated) Reported — primary order not yet fetched — checked 2026-08-10 |
| Maharashtra (Aaple Sarkar) | Generally 1 year — some schemes accept only a current-FY certificate | The Mumbai City district FAQ states the certificate is generally valid for 1 year, or only for the current financial year when applying to certain schemes. The consuming scheme's freshness rule wins over the general duration. | Mumbai City District official FAQ (Government of Maharashtra), income certificate section Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
| Gujarat (Digital Gujarat) | 3 years from the issue date (state purposes) | Gujarat extended income-certificate validity from 1 year to 3 years (decision reported 01.10.2021); state-purpose non-creamy-layer certificates were extended to 3 years effective 01.04.2016. Central-purpose EWS/NCL claims still follow the central financial-year rules. | Gujarat government decisions reported by DeshGujarat (01.10.2021 income; 27.04.2016 state NCL); Revenue Dept GR numbers unlocated Reported — primary order not yet fetched — checked 2026-08-10 |
| Central EWS / OBC-NCL claims (any state) | State duration does NOT govern — the financial-year rules do | When the income certificate feeds a central EWS or OBC-NCL reservation claim, the state's printed duration is overridden: EWS follows the DoPT application-FY rule and OBC-NCL follows the recruiter's crucial-date/FY rule. A certificate inside its state validity can still be the wrong financial year. | DoPT OM No. 36039/1/2019-Estt(Res) dated 31.01.2019 + DoPT EWS FAQ dated 19.09.2022 Official text, read verbatim — checked 2026-08-10 |
It never decides whether you qualify as EWS on the income limit — that is self-declared, not a date question. SarkariDoc is not an official government website; confirm every result with your notification and DV call letter.
DoPT OM 36039/1/2019, Para 4.1
DoPT OM No. 36039/1/2019-Estt(Res), dated 31.01.2019, Para 4.1: "Income shall also include income from all sources i.e. salary, agriculture, business, profession, etc. for the financial year prior to the year of application."
DoPT EWS FAQ — the governing example
DoPT EWS FAQ worked example: "if the closing date for receipt of application for a post is 1st August 2022, the financial year for computing gross annual income of the family shall be 2021-2022 and the certificate shall be valid for 2022-2023."
Four: caste (SC/ST), EWS Income & Asset, plain income certificates, and OBC non-creamy-layer. They follow genuinely different rules — SC/ST certificates never expire centrally, EWS dies every 31 March, income certificates run 1-3 years depending on the state, and OBC-NCL depends on the recruiter (RRB tests the issue date, SSC only your status). Each type also has its own page with the full rules table.
By default it uses your exam's official application closing date, because DoPT treats that as the crucial date unless the exam body fixes a different one. Every supported exam's closing date comes from its official notice. If your notification or DV call letter gives a different date, enter it yourself — the date used is shown with every verdict.
No. It checks dates and rules only. It never checks your family income against the EWS income limit or the creamy-layer test — those are self-declared and not something a date checker can decide. Income is deliberately left out so the tool never gives a false pass or fail on something it cannot check.
Because the rules genuinely conflict across recruiting bodies — RRB requires an OBC-NCL certificate issued on or after 1 April of the notification's financial year, while SSC explicitly does not insist on any issue-date window. A verdict without its source would be a guess; every verdict here names the exact OM, notice paragraph or state rule that decided it, with the date we checked it.
No. SarkariDoc is not an official government website. This checker follows the cited official rules so you can check your own dates before document verification. Always confirm the crucial date and certificate requirement in your official notification and DV call letter.
SarkariDoc is not an official government website. This checker checks dates only, not income eligibility — confirm the crucial date and certificate rule in your official notification and DV call letter.