Theoretical description of cross-shell states, whose parity is opposite to that of the ground state, in light neutron-rich nuclei represents a difficult task, since they involve transitions encompassing two major shells on a proton-neutron asymmetric system. More specifically obtaining reliable effective interactions in the nuclear shell model for such transitions is a challenge. Scarcity of experimental constraints may be additionally responsible to this. An experimental attempt to furnish new spectroscopic information on cross-shell states in neutron-rich carbon isotopes, 17 C and 19 C, is described, and the applicability of modern shell-model interactions in describing relevant spectroscopy is discussed. Brief description of the experiment utilizing RIKEN-RIBF, SAMURAI spectrometer is provided.