UPSC Chairperson Manoj Soni resigns five years before term ends

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) chairperson Manoj Soni has resigned due to “personal reasons,” almost five years before his tenure ends in 2029, sources told The Hindu.

Mr. Soni, who joined the Commission as a Member in 2017, was sworn-in as the Chairperson on May 16, 2023.

“He resigned almost a month back,” a top source told The Hindu. The source added there was no clarity if the resignation would be accepted and he would be relieved. The source also clarified that the resignation was not linked to the controversy regarding UPSC candidates securing employment by presenting fake certificates.  

Mr. Soni is learnt to have submitted his resignation to the President of India. However, the government is yet to announce the name of the new Chairperson.

According to sources, he wants to devote more time to Anoopam Mission, a branch of Swaminarayan Sect in Gujarat. He became a monk or nishkam karmayogi (selfless worker) in the Mission after receiving diksha or initiation in 2020.

Mr. Soni is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had picked him as the Vice-Chancellor of Vadodara’s famous MS University in 2005 when he was 40 years old, making him the youngest V-C in the country.

Prior to his appointment to the UPSC in June 2017, Mr. Soni had served three terms as Vice-Chancellor in two universities, in his home State Gujarat.

Mr. Soni had served as the V-C of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU) for two terms till 2015. The university, set up by the Gujarat government, provides distance education courses.

Sources added that the resignation was not linked to the controversy regarding trainee Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar, who allegedly forged identity papers and presented a disability certificate to get into the service. The UPSC on Friday registered a criminal case against Ms. Khedkar and issued a show-cause notice for the cancellation of her candidature from Civil Services Examination, 2022. After Ms. Khedkar’s case surfaced, social media was abuzz with several cases of candidates, presently in service, who allegedly forged documents to get benefits reserved for Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Economically Weaker Section (EWS), and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD). The cases raise questions about the sanctity of UPSC’s exam and selection processes.

The UPSC is a constitutional body as mandated under Article 315-323 Part XIV Chapter II of the Constitution of India. The Commission conducts several examinations on behalf of the Union government. It also conducts civil services examinations every year and recommends candidates for appointment to the IAS, Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Central Services - Group A and Group B.

The Commission is headed by a Chairperson and can have a maximum of 10 members. As on Friday, there were seven members besides the Chairperson, including Dinesh Dasa, former Chairman of Gujarat Public Service Commission; BB Swain, former Gujarat cadre IAS officer; Sheel Vardhan Singh, former IPS officer; Sanjay Verma, former diplomat; and Preeti Sudan, former Union Health Secretary.