UPSC chairperson Manoj Soni resigns five years early, says report

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) chairperson Manoj Soni, has resigned from his position citing "personal reasons," according to a news report in the Hindu. Soni's resignation comes almost five years before the end of his tenure in 2029.

Soni, who has been associated with the UPSC since 2017, was appointed as the Chairperson on May 16, 2023. Hindu quoted a senior source as saying, “He resigned almost a month back.”

However, there remains uncertainty about whether his resignation will be accepted, and he will be officially relieved. Sources quoted claimed that the resignation is unrelated to the ongoing controversy regarding UPSC candidates securing employment with fake certificates.

It was reported that Mr. Soni submitted his resignation to the President of India, but the government has not yet announced a successor. Sources indicate that Mr. Soni wishes to devote more time to Anoopam Mission, a branch of the Swaminarayan Sect in Gujarat. He became a monk, or nishkam karmayogi (selfless worker), in the Mission after his initiation in 2020.

Soni’s proximity to PM Narendra Modi is well-known. In 2005, at the age of 40, he was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Vadodara's prestigious MS University, making him the youngest Vice-Chancellor in India.

Before his UPSC appointment in June 2017, Mr. Soni served three terms as Vice-Chancellor at two universities in Gujarat, including Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU), which offers distance education courses.

The resignation is not connected to the recent scandal involving trainee Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar, who allegedly forged identity papers and presented a disability certificate to gain entry into the service.

The UPSC has filed a criminal case against Ms. Khedkar and issued a show-cause notice for her candidature's cancellation from the Civil Services Examination, 2022.

This incident has sparked a flurry of allegations on social media regarding other candidates who may have used forged documents to secure positions reserved for Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD).

These allegations raise significant concerns about the integrity of the UPSC's examination and selection processes.

The UPSC, a constitutional body mandated under Articles 315-323 Part XIV Chapter II of the Indian Constitution, conducts various examinations for the Union government, including the civil services examinations.

The Commission, led by a chairperson, can have up to 10 members. As of Friday, 19 July there were seven members in addition to the Chairperson: Dinesh Dasa, former Chairman of the 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.