KPSC TOWN PLANNING · KARNATAKA · COMPLETE GUIDE
Quick answer: The Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) has run three distinct town-planning recruitments since 2020 - Assistant Director (2020, Group A), Town Planner (2021/22, Group B) and Assistant Town Planner (2022, Group C) - each with its own pay scale, qualification and exam format. Together they selected 99 candidates. A fourth cycle is in early proposal stage: 16 Town Planner posts proposed on 12 August 2026, not yet notified - see our 2026 proposal explainer for that part specifically. This guide covers the three completed cycles in full.
| 3Recruitment cycles run | 99Candidates selected, all-time | ₹33.4K-97.1KPay scale range across posts | 16Posts proposed for 2026 (not notified) |
Three Different Posts, Not One Job
The single biggest source of confusion in this recruitment line: these are three separate posts on a promotional ladder, not the same job renamed year to year. Compare only within a post's own history.
| Post | Assistant Director | Town Planner | Assistant Town Planner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kannada name | ಸಹಾಯಕ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರು | ನಗರ ಯೋಜಕರು | ಸಹಾಯಕ ನಗರ ಯೋಜಕರು |
| Group | A (technical cadre) | B | C |
| Cycle / notification | 2020 · PSC 1 RTB-3/2020 | 2021/22 · PSC 1 RTB-3/2021 | 2022 · PSC 17 RTB(2)/2022-23/215 |
| Notification date | 24 Jun 2020 | 18 Mar 2022 (+ amendment 24 Aug 2022) | 22 Apr 2022 |
| Pay scale | ₹52,650 - 97,100 | ₹43,100 - 83,900 | ₹33,450 - 62,600 |
| Minimum qualification | Degree in Civil Engineering or Architecture (or IE Part A & B), plus a PG degree/diploma in Town & Country Planning, Urban Design, Urban Planning, City Planning, Landscape Architecture or Transportation Planning - or an ITPI-recognised equivalent | Degree in Civil Engineering from a recognised University, or IE Part-A & B certificate, or Degree in Architecture from a recognised University | Diploma in Civil Engineering (or its General / Civil Draughtsmanship variants) from a recognised Polytechnic |
| Selection method | Descriptive written exam + interview | Objective (OMR) exam only | Objective exam - offline OMR or CBRT |
| Total marks | 420 (400 written + 20 interview) | 600 (derived - see Exam Pattern below) | 200 |
Age limits are identical across all three posts: minimum 18, maximum 35 (General), 38 (2A/2B/3A/3B categories), 40 (SC/ST/Category-1), per the standard Karnataka age-relaxation rules cited in each notification.
Where the 2026 Cycle Stands
A fourth cycle is in motion: the Town and Country Planning Department proposed 16 Town Planner posts (13 Residual Parent Cadre + 3 Kalyana Karnataka) to KPSC on 12 August 2026. As of this guide, no notification has been issued - no application window, exam date, pay scale or category-wise breakdown exists yet for 2026. Full detail, including how this proposal compares to the 2021/22 Town Planner cycle and what the past cycles suggest about timing, is in our dedicated KPSC Town Planner 2026 proposal explainer.
Vacancy History by Cycle
| Cycle | Residual Parent Cadre | Kalyana Karnataka (HK) | Total notified | Selected | Unfilled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant Director, 2020 | 10 regular + 6 backlog | 3 regular + 2 backlog | 21 | 20 | 1 (Kalyana Karnataka, regular) |
| Town Planner, 2021/22 | 18 | 5 (final list) / 2 (notification extract - sources disagree) | 23 (final list) / 20 (notification extract) | 19 | 4 |
| Assistant Town Planner, 2022 | 50 | 10 | 60 | 60 | 0 |
The 2020 Assistant Director cycle left one Kalyana Karnataka post unfilled - the General Merit post carrying a hearing-impairment (PwD) sub-reservation, against which no candidate appears in the final select list. The 2021/22 Town Planner cycle left 4 of 23 notified posts unfilled. The 2022 Assistant Town Planner cycle filled every single notified post across both cadres.
Exam Pattern for Each Post
Assistant Town Planner (2022) - 200 marks
- Compulsory Kannada Language Test (Subject Code 493) - qualifying only, 21 Jan 2023
- Paper-1, General Knowledge (Subject Code 494) - 100 marks, objective, 22 Jan 2023
- Paper-2 (Subject Code 495) - 100 marks split as General Kannada 35 + General English 35 + Computer Knowledge 30, 100 questions, 22 Jan 2023
- Conducted offline (OMR) or CBRT. Negative marking: ¼ (0.25) mark deducted per wrong answer.
Town Planner (2021/22) - 600 marks (derived)
- Paper-2, Urban and Regional Planning (Subject Code 521) - 300 marks, 100 questions, 2 hours, bilingual (Kannada + English), verified from the scanned question paper (Version Code R), 11 Apr 2023
- Paper-1, General Paper (Subject Code 513) - 100 questions, maximum marks not stated in available documents, 12 Apr 2023
- Kannada Language Test (Subject Code 512) - qualifying, 12 Apr 2023
- Total 600 marks is derived, not printed on any single document: every selected candidate's marks divided by their listed percentage resolves to exactly 600 (e.g. 355.50 ÷ 59.25% = 600). Negative marking ¼ (0.25) mark per wrong answer.
Assistant Director (2020) - 420 marks
- Paper-1, General Studies - 200 marks, 3 hours, descriptive
- Paper-2, Urban and Regional Planning (ನಗರ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರಾದೇಶಿಕ ಯೋಜನೆ) - 200 marks, 3 hours, descriptive
- Interview - maximum 20 marks (5% of written marks); shortlisting at 1:3 on written marks plus reservation rules
- Papers set and answerable in Kannada or English. No negative marking is mentioned for this descriptive format.
What Selected Candidates Actually Scored
Important framing: KPSC does not publish official cut-off marks for these exams. Every figure below is the lowest mark among candidates actually selected against a given reservation slot, reconstructed from the final select lists - never an officially declared cut-off, and not the same thing as how many posts were advertised in that category.
Assistant Town Planner (2022) - out of 200 marks
| Cadre | Category range | Lowest selected mark | As % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residual Parent Cadre | General Merit to 3B (50 selected) | 85.25 | 42.6% |
| Kalyana Karnataka | General Merit to 2B (10 selected) | 76.75 | 38.4% |
The same 200-mark exam produced a materially different bar between the two cadres - the Kalyana Karnataka cadre's lowest selected mark (76.75) sat about 8.5 marks below the Residual Parent Cadre's (85.25). Both cadres filled every notified post.
Town Planner (2021/22) - out of 600 marks (derived)
| Cadre | Selected | Lowest selected mark | As % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residual Parent Cadre | 15 (of 18 notified) | 251.25 | 41.9% |
| Kalyana Karnataka | 4 (of 5 per final list / 2 per notification extract) | 217.50 | 36.3% |
Assistant Director (2020) - out of 420 marks
| Cadre / block | Selected | Lowest selected mark | As % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residual Parent Cadre, regular | 10 | 130.00 | 31.0% |
| Residual Parent Cadre, backlog | 6 | 88.50 | 21.1% |
| Kalyana Karnataka, regular | 2 (of 3 notified) | 168.50 | 40.1% |
| Kalyana Karnataka, backlog | 2 | 74.00 | 17.6% |
The 2020 backlog selections went as low as 21% of the total marks - a reminder that backlog-slot bars can sit well below the regular-cadre bar in the same cycle. This select list was also revised once: KPSC published a first final list, a tribunal later ordered it revised, and a revised list was issued on 7 November 2023, about 20 months after the first list. One selection in it remains noted as conditional on a pending criminal case, per the source document.
Full Cycle Timeline
- Assistant Director, 2020: Notification 24 Jun 2020 → first final select list 15 Feb 2022 → tribunal order 13 Jul 2023 → revised final list 7 Nov 2023. About 41 months end to end.
- Town Planner, 2021/22: Notification 18 Mar 2022 → exam 11-12 Apr 2023 → 1:3 eligibility list (55 candidates) 16 Jun 2023 → final list 31 Jan 2024, re-published 16 Apr 2024 after a quorum issue with the approving Commission meeting. About 25 months.
- Assistant Town Planner, 2022: Notification 22 Apr 2022 → exam 21-22 Jan 2023 → final list 20 Mar 2024. About 23 months, and about 9 months from notification to exam.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are KPSC Assistant Director, Town Planner and Assistant Town Planner the same post?
No. They are three separate posts in three different groups (A, B and C respectively), with different pay scales, qualifications and exam formats, run as three separate recruitment cycles in 2020, 2021/22 and 2022.
What is the KPSC Town Planner pay scale?
₹43,100-83,900 as notified in the 2021/22 cycle. Karnataka's 7th State Pay Commission has since revised state pay scales, so this figure should not be assumed current for any future notification.
Does KPSC publish official cut-off marks?
No. KPSC's notifications and select lists do not carry a published cut-off. Figures commonly shown as "cut-offs" for these exams, including on this page, are the lowest mark among candidates actually selected for a given category slot, reconstructed from the final select list.
What's the difference between the Residual Parent Cadre and Kalyana Karnataka cadre?
They are separate vacancy blocks within the same recruitment, tied to Karnataka's regional reservation framework for the Kalyana Karnataka (Hyderabad-Karnataka) region. In every completed cycle, the two cadres have had different lowest-selected-mark bars on the same exam.
Is a KPSC Town Planner recruitment open right now?
No completed cycle is currently open. A 2026 cycle is at proposal stage only (16 posts proposed, 12 August 2026) with no notification issued. See our 2026 proposal explainer for details.
Related Resources
Disclaimer: all figures for the 2020, 2021/22 and 2022 cycles are verified against official KPSC notifications, exam-pattern documents and final select lists. Several data points (the 2021/22 Kalyana Karnataka base figure, its category-wise breakdown, and Paper-1's maximum marks) remain marked "sources disagree" or "not found in provided documents" rather than estimated, in line with the source documents' own gaps. This guide will be updated, not replaced, as the 2026 cycle progresses.
