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Union Public Service Commission

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For other uses of their abbreviation UPSC, see UPSC.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC; ISO: Saṁgha Loka Sevā Āyoga) is a constitutional body tasked with recruiting officers for All India Services and the Central Civil Services (Group A and B) through various standardized examinations.[1] In 2023, 1.3 million applicants competed for just 1,255 positions.[2]

Union Public Service Commission
Union Public Service Commission
Constitutional body overview
Formed1 October 1926
(98 years ago) (1926-10-01)
JurisdictionRepublic of India
HeadquartersDholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi
28°36′29″N 77°13′37″E / 28.6080°N 77.2269°E / 28.6080; 77.2269
Minister responsible
Constitutional body executive
Parent departmentGovernment of India
Child Constitutional body
Websiteupsc.gov.in

The agency's charter is granted by Part XIV of the Constitution of India, titled Services Under the Union and the States.[3][4] The commission is mandated by the Constitution for appointments to the services of the Union and All India Services. It is also required to be consulted by the Government in matters relating to appointment, transfer, promotion, and disciplinary matters. The commission reports directly to the President. The commission can advise the Government through the president, although, such advice is not binding. Being a constitutional authority, UPSC is amongst the few institutions that function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher judiciary and lately the Election Commission.[5]

The commission is headquartered at Dholpur House, in New Delhi, and functions through its secretariat. Established on 1 October 1926 as Public Service Commission, it was later reconstituted as Federal Public Service Commission by the Government of India Act 1935; only to be renamed as today's Union Public Service Commission after the independence.[6][7]

History

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The Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India was set up under the chairmanship of Lord Lee of Fareham by the British Government in 1923.[8][6] With equal numbers of Indian and British members, the commission submitted its report in 1924, recommending setting up of a Public Service Commission.[9] The Lee Commission proposed that 40% of future entrants should be British, 40% Indians directly recruited, and 20% Indians promoted from the provincial services.[8][7]

This led to the establishment of the first Public Service Commission on 1 October 1926 under the chairmanship of Sir Ross Barker.[6] A mere limited advisory function was granted to the Public Service Commission and the leaders of the freedom movement continually stressed on this aspect, which then resulted in the setting up of a Federal Public Service Commission under the Government of India Act 1935.[6][7]

The Federal Public Service Commission became the Union Public Service Commission after independence. It was given a constitutional status under the Constitution of India on 26 January 1950.[9][7]

In 1947, the then deputy prime minister Vallabhbhai Patel called the recruits as the "steel frame of India".[1]

Constitutional status

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See also: Part XIV of the Constitution of India

Articles 315 to 323 of Part XIV of the constitution, titled Services Under the Union and the States, provide for a Public Service Commission for the Union and each state.[3][4] Accordingly, as per Art. 315, at the Union level, the Union Public Service Commission is envisaged by it. UPSC is amongst the few institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher judiciary and lately the Election Commission.[5]

Appointment

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As per Art. 316, the chairman and other members of the Union Public Service Commission shall be appointed by the president. In case the office of the chairman becomes vacant, the duties shall be performed by one of the other members of the Commission at the appointment of the President.[10]

Also, nearly half of the members of the Commission shall be persons who at the dates of their respective appointments have held office for at least ten years either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State. A member of a Union Public Service Commission shall hold office for a term of six years from the date on which they enter upon the office or until they attain the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier. Under Art 318, the President is empowered to determine the number of members of the Commission and their conditions of service.[10]

As per Art 319, a person who holds office as chairman shall, on the expiration of the term of office, be ineligible for re-appointment to that office. But, a member other than the chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the chairman of the Union Public Service Commission, or as the chairman of a State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State. Also, the chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission.[10]

Expenses

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As per Art. 322, the expenses of the Union Public Service Commission, including any salaries, allowances, and pensions payable to or in respect of the members or staff of the Commission, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.[10]

Extension of functions

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As per Art. 321, an Act made by Parliament may provide for the exercise of additional functions by the Union Public Service Commission w.r.t. Services of the Union.[10]

Functions

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As per Art. 320, it shall be the duty of the Union Public Service Commissions to conduct examinations for appointments to the services of the Union. It shall also assist two or more states, if requested so, in framing and operating schemes of joint recruitment for any services.[10]

Removal and suspension

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As per Art. 317, the chairman or any other member of a Public Service Commission shall only be removed from their office by order of the president on the ground of "misbehavior" after the Supreme Court, on a reference being made to it by the president, has, on inquiry reported that the chairman or such other member ought to be removed. The president may suspend the chairman or other members of the commission until the report of the Supreme Court is received.[10]

Reporting

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As per Art. 323, it will be the duty of the Union Commission to annually present a report to the president of the work done by the Commission. On receipt of such report, the president shall present a copy before each House of Parliament; together with a memorandum, if any, explaining the reasons why the advice of the Commission was not accepted by him.[10]

The president may also remove the chairman or other member of the commission if he/she/they:

  • is/are adjudged an insolvent; or
  • engage/s during their term of office in any paid employment outside the duties of their office; or
  • is/are, in the opinion of the president, unfit to continue in office because of infirmity of mind or body.
  • The Chairman or any other member cannot hold an office of profit or otherwise they shall be deemed to be guilty of misbehavior.[10]

The Union Public Service Commission shall be consulted:

  • on all matters relating to
    • methods of recruitment to civil services and for civil posts
    • making appointments to civil services and posts
    • making promotions and transfers from one service to another
    • The suitability of candidates for such appointments, promotions, or transfers
  • on all disciplinary matters against a civil servant serving in a civil capacity, including memorials or petitions relating to such matters.
  • on any claim by or in respect of a person who is serving or has served in a civil capacity, that any costs incurred in defending legal proceedings instituted against him in respect of acts done or purporting to be done in the execution of their duty should be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
  • on any claim for the award of a pension in respect of injuries sustained by a person while serving in a civil capacity, and any question as to the amount of such award.

It shall be the duty of a Union Public Service Commission to advise on any matter referred to them; provided that the president has not made any regulations specifying the matters in which it shall not be necessary for Union Public Service Commission to be consulted.[10]

Organizational structure

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The Commission consists of the chairman and other members appointed by The president of India. Usually, the Commission consists of 9 to 11 members including the chairman.[11] Every member holds office for a term of six years or until he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier.

The terms and conditions of service of the chairman and members of the Commission are governed by the Union Public Service Commission (Members) Regulations, 1969.[12]

The chairman and any other member of the commission can submit their resignation at any time to the President of India. They may be removed from their office by the President of India on the ground of misbehavior (only if an inquiry of such misbehavior is made and upheld by the Supreme Court) or if he is adjudged insolvent, or engages during the term of office in any paid employment outside the duties of their office, or in the opinion of the president unfit to continue in office because of the infirmity of mind or body.

Secretariat

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The Commission is serviced by a Secretariat headed by a Secretary with four Additional Secretaries, several Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, and other supporting staff.[13] The secretariat, for administrative purposes, is further divided into divisions, each undertaking having a specific responsibility:[14]

  • Administration: Administers the Secretariat as well as looks after personal matters of Chairman/Members and other Officers/Staff of the Commission.[15]
  • All India Services: Recruitment to All India Services is done either by direct recruitment, through Civil Services Examination or by promotion from the State Service. The AIS Branch handles the promotions of State Service officers to the IAS, IPS and IFS. It also handles policy matters relating to All India Services and amendments in the 'Promotion Regulations' of respective services.[16]
  • Appointments: It carry out appointments to central services based on Promotion(based on proposals from various Ministries/Departments/Union Territories and from certain local bodies) and by the means of Deputation and Absorption.[17]
  • Examinations: It carries out merit-based selection and recommendation of candidates, through various examinations such as the Engineering Services Examination, Medical Services Examination, Defence Services Examination, Civil Services Examination, etc, to Group A and Group B Services of the Government of India.[18]
  • General: Primarily deals with day-to-day housekeeping works for Commission, like, arrangements and facilitation for conduction of Examinations by the UPSC, printing Annual Report, etc.[19]
  • Recruitment: This branch carries out Direct Recruitment(out of the 3 possible mechanisms of : 'direct recruitment', 'recruitment by promotion' and 'recruitment by transfer and permanent absorption') by selection to all Group `A’ and certain Group `B’ posts of the services of the Union (including some Union Territories). These recruitment are done either by selection(interview) or through competitive examination.[20]
  • Recruitment Rules: The Commission is mandated under Art. 320 of the Constitution of India, read along the UPSC (Exemption from Consultation) Regulations, 1958, to advise on framing and amending of Recruitment and Service Rules for various Group A and Group B posts in the Government of India, and certain autonomous organizations like EPFO, ESIC, DJB, NDMC & Municipal Corporations(s) of Delhi. This Branch carries out this responsibility by facilitating the Ministries / Departments / UT Administrations / Autonomous Organisations in this regard.[21]
  • Services I: Handles disciplinary cases received from various Ministries/Departments and State Governments for the advice of the Commission, as required under Article 320 (3)(c).
  • Services II: Handles all other cases that the 'Services I' branch doesn't. It compiles the Annual Report. Also, it coordinates visits of foreign delegations, correspondence with foreign countries, and hosting of international events concerning Public Service Commissions, including the SAARC Member States.

Present members

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The institute currently has seven members including the Chairperson, compared to its sanctioned strength of ten members.

Current members of the Commission[22]
Name Service Position Term Started Term End
Preeti Sudan IAS Chairperson 1 August 2024 29 April 2025
Lieutenant General Raj Shukla (Retd.) Indian Army Member 18 July 2022[23] 26 March 2027
Suman Sharma IRS Member 25 May 2023 24 May 2029
Bidyut Bihari Swain IAS Member 1 June 2023[24] 4 September 2028
Sanjay Verma IFS Member 1 February 2024 27 January 2030
Dr. Dinesh Dasa Academician Member 29 September 2023[25] 28 September 2029
Sheel Vardhan Singh IPS Member 15 January 2024 [26] 25 August 2028

List of Chairperson

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Following is the list of Chairperson of UPSC:[27]

List of UPSC Chairman (since inception)
Chairman Term Background
From To
Sir Ross Barker October 1926 August 1932
Sir David Petrie August 1932 1936
Sir Eyre Gorden 1937 1942
Sir F. W. Robertson 1942 1947
H. K. Kripalani 1 April 1947 13 January 1949
R. N. Banerjee 14 January 1949 9 May 1955
N. Govindarajan 10 May 1955 9 December 1955
V. S. Hejmadi 10 December 1955 9 December 1961
B. N. Jha 11 December 1961 22 February 1967
Sh. K.R. Damle 18 April 1967 2 March 1971
Ranadhir Chandra Sarma Sarkar 11 May 1971 1 February 1973 Academician, West Bengal Civil Services officer
Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai 5 February 1973 4 February 1979 Former governor of Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal & Bihar
M. L. Shahare 16 February 1979 16 February 1985
H. K. L. Capoor 18 February 1985 5 March 1990
J. P. Gupta 5 March 1990 2 June 1992
Rose Millian Bathew (Kharbuli) 23 September 1992 23 August 1996 1st Woman Chairman
S. J. S. Chhatwal 23 August 1996 30 September 1996
J. M. Qureshi 30 September 1996 11 December 1998 Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1956 batch,[28] Madhya Pradesh cadre
Surendra Nath 11 December 1998 25 June 2002 Former Vice Chief of the Army Staff[29]
Purna Chandra Hota 25 June 2002 September 2003 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1962 batch[30]
Mata Prasad September 2003 January 2005 IAS officer of the 1962 Batch
S. R. Hashim 4 January 2005 1 April 2006
Gurbachan Jagat 1 April 2006 30 June 2007 Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1966 batch[31]
Subir Dutta 30 June 2007 16 August 2008
D. P. Agrawal 16 August 2008 August 2014 Academician
Rajni Razdan 16 August 2014 21 November 2014 IAS officer of 1973 batch, Haryana cadre[32]
Deepak Gupta 22 November 2014 20 September 2016 IAS officer of 1974 Batch, Jharkhand cadre[33][34]
Alka Sirohi 21 September 2016 3 January 2017 IAS officer of 1974 Batch,[35] Madhya Pradesh cadre[36]
David R. Syiemlieh 4 January 2017 21 January 2018 Academician[37] and former vice-chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar[38]
Vinay Mittal 22 January 2018 19 June 2018 Former chairman Railway Board and Indian Railway Traffic Service officer of 1975 batch[39]
Arvind Saxena (acting) 20 June 2018 28 November 2018 Indian Postal Service officer of 1978 Batch and an officer of the Research and Analysis Wing[40]
Arvind Saxena 28 November 2018 6 August 2020 Indian Postal Service[41]
Pradeep Kumar Joshi 7 August 2020 4 April 2022 Academician, former chairman of CPSC, MPPSC
Dr. Manoj Soni (acting) 5 April 2022 16 May 2023 Academician and Member of UPSC
Dr. Manoj Soni 16 May 2023 31 July 2024 Academician and former vice-chancellor of the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU), Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (The MSU of Baroda)
Preeti Sudan 1 August 2024 29 April 2025 IAS officer of 1983 batch, Andhra Pradesh cadre[42]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bergström, Villy (18 December 1997), "Country Classifications and Government Policies", Government and Growth, Oxford University PressOxford, pp. 175–177, doi:10.1093/oso/9780198290377.003.0026, ISBN 978-0-19-829037-7, retrieved 1 September 2024
  2. ^ "UPSC Civil Services Exam: Candidates from which stream succeed the most?". The Times of India. 11 December 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Constitutional Provisions". www.upsc.gov.in.
  4. ^ a b "Part XIV: Services Under the Union and the States" (PDF). lawmin.nic.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2011.
  5. ^ a b J. S. Verma (11 April 2009). "Incredible CBI". Indian Express. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d "Civil Administration and legal foundation". vle.du.ac.in. Retrieved 23 June 2017.[dead link‍]
  7. ^ a b c d "Historical Perspective". www.upsc.gov.in.
  8. ^ a b "Lee Commission | Indian history". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Citizen's Charter of UPSC". www.upsc.gov.in.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Constitution of India" (PDF). Government of India. November 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2017.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  11. ^ "The members of the Union Public Service Commission". Union Public Service Commission. 2017.
  12. ^ "Notification_39019_05_96_Estt(B)" (PDF). document.ccis.nic.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2017.
  13. ^ "Secretariat". www.upsc.gov.in.
  14. ^ "UPSC Divisions". www.upsc.gov.in. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  15. ^ "Administration Division Introduction". www.upsc.gov.in.
  16. ^ "All India Service Branch Introduction". www.upsc.gov.in.
  17. ^ "Appointments: Introduction". www.upsc.gov.in.
  18. ^ "Examinations : Introduction". www.upsc.gov.in.
  19. ^ "General : Introduction". www.upsc.gov.in.
  20. ^ "Recruitment : Introduction". www.upsc.gov.in.
  21. ^ "Recruitment Rules: Introduction". www.upsc.gov.in.
  22. ^ "The Commission". Union Public Service Commission. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  23. ^ "Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Raj Shukla appointed member, UPSC". The Hindu. 18 July 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  24. ^ "Former(MSME) secretary Bidyut Bihari Swain sworn in as a member of the UPSC member". mint. 1 June 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  25. ^ "Dinesh Dasa appointed to UPSC". The Times of India. 30 September 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  26. ^ "Former CISF chief Sheel Vardhan Singh appointed UPSC member". The Week.
  27. ^ "Chairmen of UPSC". India.gov.in. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  28. ^ "A.T. Ariyaratne awarded Gandhi Peace Prize for 1996". 31 October 1996.
  29. ^ "New UPSC chairman takes over". The Indian Express. Press Trust of India. 12 December 1998. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  30. ^ "P C Hota takes over as UPSC chief". The Times of India. Press Trust of India. 25 June 2002. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  31. ^ "Gurbachan Jagat takes over as UPSC Chairman". Zee News. 1 April 2006. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  32. ^ "Smt. Rajni Razdan takes over as Chairman, UPSC". pib.nic.in.
  33. ^ "Deepak Gupta made UPSC chairman". 24 November 2014.
  34. ^ "No full-fledged secretaries for I and B, Panchayati Raj ministries, temporarily". www.babusofindia.com.
  35. ^ "Alka Sirohi, 1974 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS, assumes office as DoPT secretary". www.babusofindia.com.
  36. ^ "A Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, Alka Sirohi, assumes office as Member, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Before taking over her new charge, Sirohi – officer of the 1974 batch – served as Secretary of, the Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry of Personnel. - Times of India". The Times of India. 4 January 2012.
  37. ^ "Academician David R Syiemlieh appointed interim UPSC chairman". 4 January 2017.
  38. ^ "Aapsu upset over Rajiv Gandhi University vice-chancellor departure – Times of India". The Times of India. 29 June 2012.
  39. ^ "Know your UPSC Member and ex-Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal". www.babusofindia.com.
  40. ^ "Arvind Saxena appointed acting UPSC chief". The Times of India. 10 June 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  41. ^ "Arvind Saxena appointed UPSC chairman". The Times of India. Press Trust of India. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  42. ^ "IAS Preeti Sudan appointed new UPSC chairperson". The Times of India. 31 July 2024. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 31 July 2024.

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