UPSC’s head, Manoj Soni, has retired before his term expires five years from now in 2029. It has emerged that Soni submitted his resignation a month ago under the grounds of ‘personal reasons’. Contrary to this, it has not been ascertained whether or not his resignation has been accepted. While joining UPSC as a member in the year 2017, she assumed the charge of Chairperson on May 16, 2023. His resignation is not connected with recent scandals that concerned the allegedly fake certificates some of the candidates possess to win the seats.
Soni has tendered his resignation and addressed it to the President of India but the government is yet to immerse it and the procedures to be followed towards the appointment of a new Chairperson has not been declared. Soni has good relations with the Central Government of India especially, Prime Minister Narendra Modi who made him as Vice Chancellor of Mic of MS University, Vadodara in 2005 while, he was the youngest Vice Chancellor in India. Prior to her term at the UPSC, Soni had a hold of three tenures as Vice Chancellor at two universities in Gujarat namely Dr. Babasaheh Ambedkar Open University where she worked up to 2015.
The UPSC is constituted under Articles 315-323 of the part 14 chapter II of the Constitution Act of India and the head of this commission is the Chairperson along with up to ten members. During Soni’s tenure, the commission included seven other members: An example of politicians is Dinesh Dasa, who was the Chairman of the Gujarat Public Service Commission; bureaucrat is BB Swain, a former IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre; a former IPS officer is Sheel Vardhan Singh; a former diplomat is Sanjay Verma; lastly, there is Preeti Sudan, who worked as the Union Health Secretary.
He scaled the heights of success in the UPSC that was headed by him and it’s a loss that he resigned early from the post. The government’s reaction and the selection of his replacement will be what matters most as the commission remains relevant in the provision of public services in India.
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