UPSC Chairman: Senior Congress leader and spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi has raised questions on the resignation of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) chairman Manoj Soni before the end of his term. He wrote on Twitter, ‘Did the #UPSC chief resign voluntarily or was he forced to leave? Where is the accountability? Who will be responsible for doing injustice to lakhs of UPSC candidates?’
After the trainee IAS Pooja Khedkar controversy, UPSC Chairman Manoj Soni has resigned from his post five years before the end of his term. According to a PTI report, in his resignation letter, Soni said that he is leaving the post due to “personal reasons”. PTI quoted sources as saying that Manoj Soni had submitted his resignation from the post of chairman about two weeks ago, while the top officials have not yet accepted the resignation.
He said his resignation was “in no way connected to the controversies and allegations surrounding the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) when the matter of probationary IAS officer Pooja Khedkar came to light.” Soni was sworn in as UPSC chairman on May 16, 2023 and his term was to end on May 15, 2029. He has resigned five years before the end of his term.
Sources said that despite holding the post of chairman of the commission, he was not keen to hold the post and wanted to retire. However, his request was not accepted at that time. Official sources said that Soni now wants to devote more time to “socio-religious activities”. Before his appointment as a member of the UPSC, Soni served three terms as vice-chancellor of various universities. He was the youngest vice-chancellor of India when he held the post of vice-chancellor at Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) of Baroda from April 2005 to April 2008.
Soni’s resignation comes at a time when the UPSC has registered a criminal case against trainee IAS officer Pooja Khedkar and her family members for allegedly misusing their identities to get more attempts for the Public Service Commission exam. Khedkar came into the limelight when she was transferred out of Pune even before completing her training for misusing power and privileges as a bureaucrat.
After Khedkar’s case surfaced and created a controversy, social media users started pointing out cases of use of fake certificates by Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers and urged the police to take action. Social media users have shared names, pictures and other details of some IAS and IPS officers, claiming that they used fake certificates to claim benefits available for people from Other Backward Classes (non-creamy layer) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
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Tags: Abhishek Manu Singhvi, IAS Officer, Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC)
FIRST PUBLISHED : July 20, 2024, 20:05 IST