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Former Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar has been appointed as the new chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The appointment was made by President Draupadi Murmu through an official order on Tuesday. The post of UPSC chairman fell vacant after Preeti Sudan completed her term on April 29.
Who is the new UPSC chairman?
Ajay Kumar is a retired 1985 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and belongs to the Kerala cadre. He served as Defence Secretary from August 23, 2019 to October 31, 2022. As per rules, Ajay Kumar can continue in this constitutional post till October 2027, as the tenure of the UPSC chairman is six years or till the age of 65.
The UPSC- which conducts the civil services examination to select officers for prestigious services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), consists of a chairman and up to ten members. At present, the posts of two members are vacant in the commission.
Former bureaucrat Anuradha Prasad took oath as UPSC member
Former bureaucrat Anuradha Prasad also took oath as UPSC member. She is the former secretary of the Inter-State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs. She was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Lieutenant General Raj Shukla (retired), the senior-most member of the commission. Anuradha Prasad is a 1986 batch Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) officer.
As Secretary of the Inter-State Council Secretariat, she handled Centre-State and inter-state relations and played a key role in building consensus on many complex and sensitive issues, resulting in major policy changes and speeding up infrastructure and other projects. After her retirement, Prasad also served as a member of the Delhi government’s Police Complaints Authority. With the appointment of Anuradha Prasad, there are still two vacant posts in the UPSC.
