Dr Manoj Soni Takes Charge As The New UPSC Chairman

Manoj Soni is a prominent educationist who has also served as the VC of MSU Baroda and BAOU Gujarat.

Dr Manoj Soni Takes Oath As New UPSC Chairman

Source : PIB Ahmedabad

Renowned educationist Manoj Soni has taken the oath as the new UPSC Chairman today, May 16, 2023. A prominent academician, Soni has been serving as a member of the Commission since June 28, 2017. He has also been performing the duties of the UPSC Chairman since April 5, 2022. Smita Nagaraj, the senior most member in the Commission administered the oath of office to Soni, news agency PTI reported an official statement from the Personnel Ministry as saying. As per provisions, the UPSC is headed by a Chairman and can have a maximum of 10 members on board. 

Importantly though, despite Soni taking up as the Chairman, the Commission still has a vacancy of 5 members. Notably, the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) is an apex examination body which conducts examinations for various services like the Civil Services, Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Indian Foreign Services (IFS), Indian Police Services (IPS), and several others. 

Before joining the UPSC though, Manoj Soni has also served as the Vice-Chancellor for three terms. He first served as the VC of The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda from April 2005 to April 2008. He also served as the VC of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU), Gujarat from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2015.

Interestingly, at the time of taking office as the VC in The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Soni was the youngest Vice Chancellor in India, and for the MSU, as per his bio data. A Political Science scholar, Soni also has a degree in International Relations, and has also taught International Relations at the Sardar Patel University (SPU), Vallabh Vidyanagar, between 1991 to 2016. He also has several recognitions and awards, besides a significant number of credits to his name.