UPSC at 100: A Century of Meritocracy and Inclusion

On 1 October 2026, the Union Public Service Commission completes one hundred years. Its institutional life began on 1 October 1926, when India's first Public Service Commission was constituted as a small advisory body whose chairman and members were appointed by the Secretary of State in London. A century later it is an independent constitutional body under Part XIV of the Constitution, conducting some of the largest competitive examinations in the world. The story of that journey is the story of two ideas learning to walk together: meritocracy, the principle that public office should go to the most capable, and inclusion, the demand that the door to public service stand genuinely open to every Indian.

The road to 1926: from nomination to open competition

The principle that entry into public service should rest on merit rather than patronage took formal shape in 1855, when the Indian Civil Service (ICS) examination was instituted in London. It replaced the East India Company's system of nomination, under which a director's favour counted for more than a candidate's ability, with open competition. But the competition was open in name more than in fact: the examination was held only in London, conducted in English, and tested subjects such as Greek and Latin, which favoured candidates educated in the British system rather than anything an officer would need to govern a district in Bengal or Punjab.

In 1862, the twenty-one-year-old Satyendranath Tagore, elder brother of Rabindranath Tagore, sailed from Calcutta to England to sit an examination his own country would not let him take at home. He cleared it in 1863 and joined the service in 1864, becoming the first Indian in what the British called the heaven-born service. He served for over thirty years in the Bombay Presidency. Six years after his success, Surendranath Banerjee, Behari Lal Gupta and Romesh Chunder Dutt followed him into the service. The door was then narrowed deliberately: the maximum age for the examination was cut step by step from twenty-three to nineteen, leaving Indian candidates almost no time to travel, prepare and compete. By 1919, only 78 of the 1,255 ICS officers were Indian.

Sustained nationalist pressure forced gradual change. The Government of India Act, 1919, which carried the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, provided for a Public Service Commission. In 1922 the ICS examination was held in India for the first time, at Allahabad, alongside London; the Indian centre moved to Delhi in 1928.

The Lee Commission and the birth of the Commission

In 1924 the Lee Commission, chaired by Arthur Hamilton Lee, recommended the immediate establishment of a statutory Public Service Commission. It also proposed a formula for the composition of the service: of every ten new entrants, four would be British, four Indian, and two Indians promoted from the provincial services. On paper this looked like a path to parity; in practice it guaranteed forty per cent of every intake to the British, by birth rather than by competition.

The Commission was set up under the Public Service Commission (Functions) Rules, 1926, framed under Sections 96B and 96C of the 1919 Act. Its first chairman was Sir Ross Barker, a member of the Home Civil Service of the United Kingdom, assisted by four members, and it was housed at Metcalfe House in Delhi. Its powers were limited, and leaders of the freedom movement criticised those limits sharply. Yet something permanent had changed: a recruiting body now existed in India, seated and staffed in India. That is why the Commission dates its history from 1926.

The constitutional mandate: Articles 315 to 323

On 22 August 1949, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, chairman of the Drafting Committee, moved the draft articles on the Union and State Public Service Commissions in the Constituent Assembly (in the draft Constitution they were numbered Articles 284 and 285). They became Part XIV, Articles 315 to 323, of the Constitution. In his valedictory address on 26 November 1949, Dr. Rajendra Prasad stressed that the independence of the Public Service Commissions was essential to keep public appointments impartial and to guard against jobbery, nepotism and favouritism.

The design is deliberate. The Constitution does not make the Commission an executive authority that appoints on its own; it makes it an independent advisory body whose advice the government must seek on specified matters, and whose expenses are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India so that no government can squeeze it financially. Where the government disagrees with the Commission's advice, it must place the case, with reasons, before Parliament.

The constitutional design: composition, tenure and removal

Composition is spare by design. The Commission consists of a chairman and other members appointed by the President, with the strength left to the President's discretion, usually nine to eleven. No qualifications are prescribed except one: nearly half the members must have held office for at least ten years under the Government of India or a state government.

Term and removal follow Articles 316 and 317. A UPSC chairman or member holds office for six years or until 65 years of age, whichever is earlier; for a State Commission the age bar is 62. The President removes a chairman or member for adjudged insolvency, paid employment outside the office, or infirmity of mind or body; for misbehaviour, removal follows an inquiry by the Supreme Court.

Independence is built into the finances and the career rules. Conditions of service are determined by the President and cannot be varied to the member's disadvantage after appointment; salaries, allowances and pensions are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India and kept outside the vote of Parliament. After office, the UPSC chairman is ineligible for any further employment under the Union or a state, while a member may become chairman or member of the UPSC or chairman of a State Commission, and a State Commission's chairman or member may move to the UPSC.

Functions under Articles 320 to 323 make the Commission the watchdog of the merit system. It conducts examinations for the all-India services and central services, assists states in joint recruitment schemes, and is consulted on methods of recruitment, promotion and transfer, on disciplinary matters affecting civil servants, on claims for reimbursement of legal expenses incurred defending official acts, and on temporary appointments beyond a year. A State Commission is additionally consulted while framing rules for appointment to the state's judicial service.

Limits matter as much as powers. The Commission's advice does not bind the government, which may act without consultation, leaving the aggrieved public servant no remedy in court. It is not consulted on reservations for backward classes, on SC and ST claims in appointments, on top diplomatic and tribunal posts, or on Group C and Group D recruitment. And selection by the Commission confers no right to the post: a recommendation is only a recommendation.

What the Commission does today

Recruitment by examination is the best-known face of the Commission: the Civil Services Examination, the Indian Forest Service examination, the Engineering Services examination, the Combined Medical Services examination, the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy examination, the Combined Defence Services examination and the Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) examination, among others.

Recruitment by selection is the quieter half: interviews and recruitment tests for specialist posts requisitioned by ministries and departments. Then there is the advisory role: the Commission advises the government on Recruitment Rules, on promotions through Departmental Promotion Committees, on induction into the All India Services, and on disciplinary cases. In 2023-24 alone it processed the records of 24,581 officers for promotion, and 532 officers were inducted into the All India Services.

One unusual responsibility flows from the Supreme Court's order of 22 September 2006 in Prakash Singh vs Union of India: since 2012-13 the Commission empanels senior IPS officers for appointment as Director General of Police or head of the police force in the states, insulating police leadership from arbitrary choice.

A century in milestones

Between the advisory body of 1926 and the constitutional body of today lies a long institutional biography. The Government of India Act, 1935 transferred the power of appointment to the Governor-General, provided for a Federal Public Service Commission and Provincial Commissions, and made consultation with the Commission mandatory on recruitment, appointments, promotions, disciplinary cases and service rules. The body was renamed the Federal Public Service Commission on 1 April 1937, and in 1940 Indians outnumbered Europeans in the ICS for the first time: 625 to 575.

The inclusion arc: from a closed door to a national platform

The Commission's second great story is inclusion. Between 1949 and 1951, only one woman was selected for the Indian Foreign Service and two for the IAS. Women were 3.6 per cent of those recommended in 1952; in the Civil Services Examination of 2025 they were 31.2 per cent, securing 11 of the top 25 ranks.

Language travelled a similar road. In 1970-71 the Commission informed the government that the Personality Test could be conducted only in English. The position changed in 1980-81: candidates may now answer in an Indian language, with an interpreter provided by the Commission.

Access came first for persons with disabilities: scribes for visually impaired candidates were introduced in 1994, and today the right to a scribe and extra time is an entitlement for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, who are also allotted the centre of their choice. Women candidates receive fee exemptions. The Commission did not write the policy of reservation, but it built the national platform that implements it, including the Economically Weaker Sections category from CSE 2019 and a separate transgender category in its online application form from 2020.

And merit does not end at the final list. Under the Public Disclosure Scheme, in force since 20 August 2018, the details of candidates who cleared every stage of an examination but narrowly missed the final list were made available to employers. Revamped and renamed Pratibha Setu on 9 June 2025, it now connects such candidates with verified employers, including ministries, public sector undertakings, autonomous bodies and private organisations.

How the machinery guards fairness

Scale creates its own dangers, and the Commission's procedures are built around one principle: need to know. Question papers are built from question banks prepared by academic experts who work in anonymity under a strict code of confidentiality. No single expert sets a whole paper, and no expert knows which questions will be used or when. No single person, not even the chairman, sees the full picture.

Technology now guards the gates as well. In collaboration with the National e-Governance Division, the Commission piloted AI-enabled facial authentication, matching a candidate's live image with the application photograph, at select centres in Gurugram during the NDA and NA (II) and CDS (II) examinations on 14 September 2025. It was used at full scale at the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination on 24 May 2026, covering about 5.50 lakh candidates through invigilators' mobile phones in about six to eight seconds per candidate. Ahead of that examination, a scan of fifteen years of candidate data identified and rejected 569 applicants who had furnished false information to claim extra attempts.

The Commission today

The Commission is headed by Chairman Dr. Ajay Kumar (since 15 May 2025), with eight members, three of them women. Its recent moves point in one direction: a Universal Registration Number on a revamped portal from May 2025, randomised interview boards from the Combined Medical Services Examination 2025, a thirty-channel candidate helpdesk from 1 February 2026, new examination centres at Bhubaneswar, Kanpur and Meerut, provisional answer keys published soon after the Preliminary examination, and a paperless Departmental Promotion Committee system under development.

An institution that has endured for a hundred years does so not because it resists change, but because it knows what must never change.

Dr. Ajay Kumar, Chairman, UPSC

A century ago the struggle was for the right of Indians to compete at all. Today the task is to make sure that right genuinely reaches every deserving Indian who wishes to serve the nation.

Prelims hooks

• The first Public Service Commission was constituted on 1 October 1926; the UPSC completes 100 years on 1 October 2026.
• First Chairman: Sir Ross Barker (1926); first Indian Chairman: H. K. Kripalani (1947); first woman Chairperson: Rose Millian Bathew Kharbuli (1992).
• Constitutional home: Part XIV, Articles 315 to 323; the draft articles (284 and 285) were moved by B. R. Ambedkar on 22 August 1949.
• The Commission's expenses are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India under Article 322.
• First housed at Metcalfe House, Delhi; permanent headquarters at Dholpur House since 1952.
• The Lee Commission (1924) recommended a statutory Public Service Commission.
• Age limits for the Civil Services Examination were fixed in 2014: 32 years (General), 35 (OBC), 37 (SC and ST), with up to ten more years for persons with disabilities.
• The UPSC Museum opened on 11 November 2016 and is free and open to the public on weekdays.

Key Terms

• Article 316: Governs appointment and term of UPSC and SPSC members: six years or 65 years of age for the UPSC, 62 for an SPSC.
• Article 317: Governs removal: by the President for insolvency, paid outside employment or infirmity, and for misbehaviour only after a Supreme Court inquiry.
• Article 315: Establishes the Union Public Service Commission and the State Public Service Commissions, and permits Joint Commissions for two or more states.
• Article 320: Lists the UPSC's functions: examinations, consultation on recruitment, promotion, transfer, discipline and related personnel matters.

Practice questions

1. Consider the following statements about the Union Public Service Commission: 1. It traces its origin to the Public Service Commission constituted on 1 October 1926. 2. Its expenses are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India. 3. The Chairman of the UPSC is eligible for further employment under the Government of India after ceasing to hold office. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3
2. With reference to the history of the Public Service Commission in India, consider the following statements: 1. The Lee Commission of 1924 recommended the immediate establishment of a statutory Public Service Commission. 2. The first Public Service Commission was constituted with Sir Ross Barker as Chairman. 3. The ICS examination was first held in India at Allahabad in 1922. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3
3. Consider the following statements: 1. Under Article 319 of the Constitution, the Chairman of the UPSC is ineligible for further employment under the Government of India or a State. 2. A member of the UPSC can be removed only by the President after an inquiry by the Supreme Court. 3. The advice of the UPSC is binding on the government in disciplinary matters. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3
4. Which of the following best describes Pratibha Setu? (a) A scholarship scheme for UPSC aspirants from economically weaker sections (b) A platform connecting candidates who cleared all stages of a UPSC examination but missed the final list with verified employers (c) A training programme for newly recruited All India Services officers (d) A grievance redressal portal for examination candidates