Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government Tuesday increased the qualifying age for government degree college lectureship to 48 yeas from 33 years. The government has asked the Odisha Public Service Commission to process selection for filling up 606 lecturer posts government degree colleges.

The State cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, approved the proposal of the higher education department for enhancement of the age limit for the recruitment of lecturer in government degree colleges.

The chief secretary, Asit Tripathy, while briefing media persons about the cabinet decisions, said that the age bar was lifted as the UGC has added PhD/ NET qualification for recruitment of teacher in degree colleges.

The higher education department’s contention was that the health and family welfare department has fixed the upper age limit at 45 years for recruitment of lecturer in government medical colleges and the maximum age for recruitment to lecturer by State Selection Board is 42.