Since 1949, 14 of the 25 chairpersons of the UPSC have been from the IAS, IPS and IFS.
New Delhi: The Centre Wednesday appointed Arvind Saxena as the chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), nearly five months after the position fell vacant.
Saxena, formerly an Indian Postal Service officer, was a member of the UPSC, India’s central recruiting agency. He had served as the acting chairman of the organisation after former chairman Vinay Mittal retired on 19 June.
Since it came into existence, the UPSC has been responsible for recruitments to all Group A and B posts of central government, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Foreign Service (IFS) besides central services such as Customs, Income Tax, Audit & Accounts, Railway’s, Posts among others.
Saxena and his predecessor Mittal, who was from the Indian Railway Traffic Service, are among the handful of non-IAS, IPS or IFS officers to have occupied the position. There were also a few academicians who had previously held the position.
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IAS, IPS dominated the post
Since 1949, 14 of the 25 chairpersons of the UPSC have been from the IAS, IPS and IFS, show UPSC records. The rest were appointed from the field of academics and other services.
D.P. Agrawal, a former dean at IIT Delhi and the managing director of Educational Consultants India Ltd. (EdCIL), a central PSU, was appointed as UPSC chairman.
The other prominent academicians who held that position were Dr S.R. Hashim, who also worked as the member-secretary of the Planning Commission, M.L. Shahare, who had served on several commissions and boards, and David Reid Syiemlieh, an author.
Experts who have headed UPSC include J.P. Gupta, a chartered engineer and a former chief of the Railway Board, and R.M. Bathew Kharbuli, who had served on various government boards and state public service commissions.
Others who headed the UPSC include R.C.S. Sarkar, former law secretary, and chemist A.R. Kidwai, who later served as the governor of many states. Lt Gen. Surinder Nath from the Indian Army had also headed UPSC between 1998 and 2002.
The appointments to the UPSC chair and its members are made by the President of India and at the discretion of the government.
According to Article 316 of the Constitution, at least half of the members of the UPSC should be former government servants with a minimum of 10 years’ experience.
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Arvind Saxena is a proper scoundrel at par with IAS & IPS officers as far as manipulation, selective favouritism based on caste, taking a decision either which way based on the heaviness of dole or sifarish in lieu of favours. He is manipulative & corrupt Give such corrupt, intellectually challenged idiots a thrashing at the gate of UPSC.
This practice must be applied where the department belongs to engineering and medical. Er.N.C.MEENA
Good decision.All services are part of Indian Service.
The quality of IAS/IPS officers are deteriorating by the day.One can see that they do not possess the spine to stand up to the political netas.Due to their vested interest they destroy the sanctity of many premier organisations.In such circumstances people from non IAS domain must be selected.
What is the problem if a competent officer from Engineering Services has been selected for this post. For this post
a person having demonstrated capabilities with high integrity should be selected.
acchi START ?
Vaazhga Vaiyagam
X +
Vaazhga Valamudan
Indian Postal service officer heading the UPSC is a welcoming trend.
We support and appreciate all his efforts.
We daily pray and wish him and his UPSC Team a wealthy, healthy, loving, blissful and an enlightened life.
Why only IAS, IPS and IPS should have preserve and prerogative to occupy the post of Chairperson, UPSC..Do other officials contribute meagre or insignificant contribution in the nation building or have dubious distinction of non-performer or underachiever vis-à-vis IAS breed, which have now select few, known for their work performance and no-nonsense attitude…
They are very timid lot.They display no guts to stand up to political board.They are afraid of transfers.They may or may not share the loot because their spineless submission innumerable scams take place grading the country
They command no respect among citizens but only fear because of power they wield.They are just toys.
IAS lobby will be fuming with anger and cursing the new non-IAS incumbent to the coveted post. All the governments in the past invariably posted IAS officers to these posts without verifying their suitability. It is pleasing to see that an INFIAN POSTAL SERVICE officer there. Good beginning. The monopoly should be broken. ISS is in no way greater than other services. A good beginning.
Incorrect photo of Shri Arvind Saxena in this article. Please get correct photo from UPSC website.
Picture shown in the above article is the correct photo.I have been interviewed by him.Unfortunately,the pics given at other places are of someone else.Hope this helps.