The Chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Manoj Soni, tendered his resignation almost five years before his tenure was due to end. A source close to the matter told The Hindu that Soni resigned from the post due to some “personal reasons”.

The official joined the commission as a member in 2017. He was sworn in as the Chairperson of the commission on May 16, 2023. Soni’s tenure was supposed to end in 2029. “He resigned almost a month back,” a top source told The Hindu. The source also mentioned that there was no clarity on whether Soni’s resignation will be accepted or not.

However, the anonymous source made it clear that the resignation was not linked to the recent controversies regarding UPSC candidates securing their seats by presenting fake certificates.

No clarity on Soni’s replacement

Soni reportedly submitted the resignation to the President of India. However, the government has yet to accept his resignation. Hence, it is still not clear if he will be relieved from his position or not. The government is also due to announce the name of the new chairperson to replace Soni.

According to The Hindu, Soni was considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was PM Modi who picked him as the Vice-Chancellor of Vadodara’s famous MS University in 2005 when he was just 40 years old. This made him the youngest V-C in the country.

Before his appointment in UPSC, Soni served three terms as Vice-Chancellor in two universities, in Gujarat. He served as the VC Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU) for two terms till 2015.

The UPSC is a constitutional body which gets its mandate from Article 315-323 Part XIV Chapter II of the Indian constitution. The Chairperson heads the commission which comprises a maximum of 10 other members. The commission under the leadership of Soni comprised of seven other members, 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.

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UPSC Chairperson Manoj Soni resigns 5 years before his term ends amid ‘fake certificate’ saga