UPSC Completes 100 Years of Merit-Based Recruitment

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) turns one hundred years old on 1 October 2026. The body that now recruits for India’s central services began life on the same date in 1926 as an advisory office whose chairman and members were picked by the Secretary of State sitting in London.

How the Commission began

Merit rather than patronage was accepted in principle in 1855, when an entrance test for the Indian Civil Service was started in London in place of nomination by the East India Company. That door stayed almost shut to Indians, because the paper was set only in England, only in English, and rewarded a British schooling. Sustained nationalist pressure, the Government of India Act of 1919 and the Lee Commission’s advice finally produced a permanent recruiting office seated in India. Sir Ross Barker was its first chairman and Metcalfe House, Delhi its first address.

From advisory office to constitutional body

Dr B. R. Ambedkar moved the draft articles on Public Service Commissions in the Constituent Assembly in 1949. They now form Part XIV of the Constitution, Articles 315 to 323. Article 315 provides for the Commissions, Article 316 leaves appointment of the chairman and members to the President, Article 320 lists the functions, and Article 322 charges the Commission’s expenses on the Consolidated Fund of India. The Federal Public Service Commission became the Union Public Service Commission on 26 January 1950.

Firsts worth remembering

Shri H. K. Kripalani took over as the first Indian chairman in 1947. Smt Rose Millian Bathew Kharbuli became the first woman to head the Commission in 1992. Dholpur House on Shahjahan Road, once a Maharaja’s Delhi residence, has served as the permanent headquarters since 1952. Kiran Bedi was the first woman the Commission picked for the Indian Police Service, in 1972, the only woman among the vacancies filled that year.

The Commission today

Dr Ajay Kumar has been chairman since 15 May 2025, working with eight members, three of whom are women. The reach of the examination has widened over the century: in the civil services examination of 2025, women accounted for 299 of the 958 candidates recommended, and they took 11 of the first 25 ranks.