UPSC chairman Manoj Soni has tendered his resignation: Report

Public Service Commission chairman Manoj Soni has likely tendered his resignation citing personal reasons, pending approval from the government, news agencies reported on Saturday citing sources. ET Online has not confirmed this development independently.

The sources told PTI hat he tendered his resignation two weeks ago but has not been accepted by the authorities.

The sources said that the resignation was "not in any way connected to controversies and allegations surrounding the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) after probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar issue came to the fore,"


Soni, 59, was added as a member of the commission on June 28, 2019 and became the chairman on May 16, 2023. His term was to end on May 15, 2029.

The sources informed PTI that Soni did not want to become the UPSC chairman and had requested to be relieved from the post. They said Soni has now desired to devote more time to "socio-religious activities."

This comes after the UPSC on Friday said that it had registered a criminal case against Khedkar for faking her identity and taken steps to debar her from future selections.

Since the Khedkar incident came to light, users of social media has been claiming more such cases of fake certificates of serving Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers.

Prior to his appointment in the UPSC, Soni had served three terms as Vice-Chancellor, icluding two consecutive terms from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2015 in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU), Gujarat, and one term in The Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) of Baroda from April 2005 to April 2008.

At the time of joining the MSU, Soni was the youngest ever Vice-Chancellor in India.

Soni is a scholar of political science with specialisation in international relations. He taught international relations at Sardar Patel University (SPU), Vallabh Vidyanagar between 1991 and 2016, except for the period when he served as Vice-Chancellor of the two universities.

Soni has earned a number of recognitions and awards and has significant number of publications to his credit.

The UPSC is headed by a chairman and can have a maximum of ten members. At present, there are seven members in the UPSC, three less than its sanctioned strength.

(With agency inputs)