Chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission
| Chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission | |
|---|---|
 Emblem of India | |
 Flag of India | |
 | |
| Union Public Service Commission | |
| Status | Head of the commission |
| Member of | Union Public Service Commission |
| Reports to | The president |
| Seat | Dholpur House, New Delhi |
| Appointer | The president (with the Union Government's consent) |
| Term length | 6 years or until the age of 65 years (whichever is earlier) |
| Constituting instrument | Part XIV of the Constitution of India |
| Formation | 1 October 1926 |
| First holder | Ross Barker |
| Salary | ₹250,000 (US$3,000) per month under pay level 18 |
| Website | upsc |
The Chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission is the head of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), an Indian central recruiting agency. The chairperson is responsible for overseeing the conduct of exams, the transfer and promotion of higher officers and civil servants. The UPSC comes under the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. The chairperson reports directly to the president of India.
Background
[edit]Term of office
[edit]The term for the UPSC chairperson is fixed up to six years or until reaching the age of 65, whichever is earlier. Under Article 316 of the Indian Constitution, the president appoints the members of the UPSC, including the chairperson. The chairperson's tenure is term-limited and ineligible for re-appointment as per Article 319.
Qualification of office
[edit]The chairperson of the UPSC must be a senior civil officer from All India Services or Central Civil Services, who has held positions under the Government of India or any state government for at least ten years. Any academician or a senior military officer can also be appointed as UPSC chairperson if served as a member of the commission itself. The chairperson or members of any state public service commissions can also be appointed as the chairperson.
Dissmisals
[edit]The chairperson can be removed under Article 317, 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 also remove the chairperson of the commission if he or she:
- 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; or
- hold an office of profit or otherwise, they shall be deemed to be guilty of misbehavior.
Responsibilities
[edit]The chairperson, along with other members of the UPSC, manages the recruitment of officers of All India Services and Central Civil Services, the transfer and promotion of higher officers, and deputation from one state to another. The chairperson's duties and service fall under the Union Public Service Commission (Members) Regulations, 1969. Upon the advice of the UPSC members, the tenure of any officer posted in a state or the union can be extended beyond the age of 60 years.
List of the chairpersons
[edit]| Chairpersons | Service or profession |
Tenure start | Tenure end | Duration of office | Previous post | Appointed by | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H. K. Kripalani | ICS | 1 April 1947 | 13 January 1949 | 1 year, 287 days | Chief Secretary of Bombay Province[1] | Louis Mountbatten | |
| R. N. Banerjee | 14 January 1949 | 9 May 1955 | 6 years, 115 days | Home Secretary of India | C. Rajagopalachari | ||
| N. Govindarajan | 10 May 1955 | 9 December 1955 | 213 days |
— |
Rajendra Prasad | ||
| V. S. Hejmadi | 10 December 1955 | 9 December 1961 | 5 years, 364 days |
— | |||
| B. N. Jha | 11 December 1961 | 22 February 1967 | 5 years, 73 days | Cabinet Secretary of India | |||
| K. R. Damle | 18 April 1967 | 2 March 1971 | 3 years, 318 days | Secretary to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Government of India[2] | Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan | ||
| R. C. S. Sarkar | IAS–WB | 11 May 1971 | 1 February 1973 | 1 year, 266 days | Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India | V. V. Giri | |
| A. R. Kidwai | Academician | 5 February 1973 | 4 February 1979 | 5 years, 364 days | Professor at Aligarh Muslim University | ||
| M. L. Shahare |
— |
16 February 1979 | 16 February 1985 | 6 years, 0 days |
— |
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | |
| H. K. L. Kapoor | IAS–GJ | 18 February 1985 | 5 March 1990 | 5 years, 17 days | Chief Secretary of the Government of Gujarat | Zail Singh | |
| J. P. Gupta | IRSME | 5 March 1990 | 2 June 1992 | 89 days | Chairperson of the Railway Board[3] | Ramaswamy Venkataraman | |
| R. M. Bathew (Kharbuli) | IAS–ML | 23 September 1992 | 23 August 1996 | 3 years, 335 days | Member of the Meghalaya Public Service Commission[4] | Shankar Dayal Sharma | |
| S. J. S. Chhatwal | IFS | 23 August 1996 | 30 September 1996 | 38 days | High Commissioner of India to Canada | ||
| J. M. Qureshi | IPS–MP | 30 September 1996 | 11 December 1998 | 72 days | Director general of the Madhya Pradesh Police | ||
| Lt. Gen Surinder Nath | Army–Regiment of Artillery | 11 December 1998 | 25 June 2002 | 3 years, 196 days | Vice Chief of the Army Staff | K. R. Narayanan | |
| P. C. Hota | IAS–OD | 25 June 2002 | 8 September 2003 | 1 year, 75 days | Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, Government of India | ||
| Mata Prasad | IAS–UP | 9 September 2003 | 4 January 2005 | 1 year, 118 days | Secretary to the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India[5] | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | |
| S. R. Hashim | Academician | 4 January 2005 | 1 April 2006 | 1 year, 87 days | Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan | ||
| Gurbachan Jagat | IPS–AGMUT | 1 April 2006 | 30 June 2007 | 1 year, 90 days | Director General of Border Security Force | ||
| Subir Dutta | IAS–WB | 30 June 2007 | 16 August 2008 | 1 year, 47 days | Defence Secretary of India | ||
| D. P. Agrawal | Academician | 16 August 2008 | 16 August 2014 | 6 years, 0 days | Director of Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Gwalior | Pratibha Patil | |
| Rajni Razdan | IAS–HR | 16 August 2014 | 21 November 2014 | 97 days | Secretary to the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India[6] | Pranab Mukherjee | |
| Deepak Gupta | IAS–JH | 22 November 2014 | 20 September 2016 | 1 year, 303 days | Secretary to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India[7] | ||
| Alka Sirohi | IAS–MP | 21 September 2016 | 3 January 2017 | 103 days | Secretary to the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India[8] | ||
| David R. Syiemlieh | Academician | 4 January 2017 | 21 January 2018 | 1 year, 17 days | Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh[9] | ||
| Vinay Mittal | IRTS | 22 January 2018 | 19 June 2018 | 148 days | Chairperson of the Railway Board[10] | Ram Nath Kovind | |
| Arvind Saxena | IPoS | 20 June 2018 (acting) | 6 August 2020 | 2 years, 47 days | Special Secretary for the Aviation Research Centre[11] | ||
| 28 November 2018 (permanent) | |||||||
| P. K. Joshi | Academician | 7 August 2020 | 4 April 2022 | 1 year, 240 days | Chairperson of the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission | ||
| Manoj Soni | 5 April 2022 (acting) | 31 July 2024 | 2 years, 117 days | Vice-chancellor of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University | |||
| 16 May 2023 (permanent) | Droupadi Murmu | ||||||
| Preeti Sudan | IAS–AP | 1 August 2024 | 29 April 2025 | 271 days | Secretary to the Ministry of Health, Government of India | ||
| Ajay Kumar | IAS–KL | 15 May 2025 | Incumbent | 79 days | Defence Secretary of India | ||
References
[edit]- ^ BHATNAGAR, ARUN (2015-08-07). "It was the Indian Civil Service that kept Pak going in the early years". The Sunday Guardian Live. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ K. R. Damle, Chairman; N. R. Law, Secretary; C. P. Sinha, Member; N. Krishnan, Member (1961). Report of the Oil Price Enquiry Committee, 1961. New Delhi, Manager of Publications. p. 5.
- ^ Dutta, Amrita Nayak (2018-11-30). "New UPSC chief Arvind Saxena among the few non-IAS officers heading recruiting body". ThePrint. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ "History: Meghalaya Public Service Commission". www.mpsc.nic.in. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ "Mata Prasad takes over as UPSC chairman". The Times of India. 2003-09-09. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ "Rajni Razdan takes over as new UPSC chief". The Economic Times. 2014-08-16. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ "Deepak Gupta made UPSC chairman". The Indian Express. 2014-11-24. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ "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 1974 batch - served as Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training, ministry of personnel". The Times of India. 2012-01-04. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ "RGU VC appointed UPSC member". The Times of India. 2012-05-29. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ "babus of india: Know your UPSC Member and ex-Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal". 2018-06-11. Archived from the original on 11 June 2018. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ "Arvind Saxena appointed acting chairman of UPSC: to take over from Vinay Mittal on 20 June". Firstpost. 2018-06-10. Retrieved 2025-05-14.