Manoj Soni to take oath as UPSC chairman tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Educationist Manoj Soni will take oath as the chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday, an official said. Soni, who joined the Commission as the member on June 28, 2017, has been performing the duties of the UPSC chairman since April 5, 2022, he said on Monday.

"He will be administered the oath of office and secrecy as chairman, UPSC on Tuesday by Smita Nagaraj, senior most member in the Commission," the official said. The UPSC conducts civil services examination to select officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others. The Commission is headed by a chairman and it can have a maximum of 10 members. Prior to his appointment in the UPSC, Soni has served three terms as Vice-Chancellor.

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These include two consecutive terms from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2015 as VC of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU), Gujarat; and one term as VC of The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (The MSU of Baroda) from April 2005 to April 2008, according to his official biodata. At the time of his joining the MSU of Baroda, Soni was the youngest ever Vice-Chancellor in India and the MSU, it said.

A scholar of political science with specialisation in international relations studies, he has 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 several awards and recognitions. In 2013, he was conferred with the rare honour of "Honorary Mayor-President of the City of Baton Rouge" by the Mayor-President of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, for his exemplary leadership in empowering disadvantaged section of society with IT literacy.

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In 2015, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, London, UK, honoured him with the World Education Congress Global Award for Distance Learning Leadership. Soni has in the past served on the Boards of Governors of several institutions of higher education and public administration. He was also a member of a quasi-judicial body constituted by an Act of the Gujarat Legislature, which regulates the fee structure of the un-aided professional intuitions in Gujarat, according to his biodata. An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and another from Indian Revenue Service (IRS) will be joining the UPSC as members soon, the official said without sharing further details.