Chapter 2

Brief History and Workload over the years

 

2.1        The Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India under the Chairmanship of Lord Lee which submitted its Report in 1924, recommended the setting up of the Public Service Commission. This led to the establishment of the first Public Service Commission on October 1, 1926 under the Chairmanship of Sir Ross Barker. The limited advisory function accorded to the Public Service Commission and the continued stress on this aspect by the leaders of our freedom movement resulted in the setting up of a Federal Public Service Commission under the Government of India Act, 1935. The Federal Public Service Commission became the Union Public Service Commission after Independence and it was given a Constitutional Status with the promulgation of Constitution of India on January 26, 1950. A list of former Chairmen and Members since 1926 is given at Appendix XLII.

 

2.2        The functions of the Commission prescribed in Article 320 of the Constitution, inter alia, are:

 

(a)                 Recruitment for all civil services and civil    posts by

 

(i)         written examination with or without a viva voce examination or interview to supplement them;

(ii)               interview;

(iii)              promotion

(b)        advising Government on disciplinary matters relating to government servants holding civil posts.

 

2.3               A comparison of the present workload of the Commission, with that in 1950-51 and the intervening period shows a steep rise.

 

Ø       In case of recruitment by examination/ interview the ratio of the number of applications to the number of posts can be taken as an index of workload.  These ratios have gone up to 38 times in 2004-05 compared to the corresponding values in 1950-51 (see Table-2 A and Graph-2 A).

 

Ø       The number of disciplinary cases handled by the Commission has gone up 17 times (see Table-2 B and Graph 2-B).

 

Ø       The number of Recruitment Rules cases processed by the Commission has gone up to 1,080 from the corresponding figure of 299 in 1960-61 (see Table-2 C and Graph-2 C).

 

Ø       The number of records processed for departmental promotion (including meetings for the All India Services) has increased from 7,254 in 1960-61 to 29,091 in 2004-05 (see Table-2 D and Graph-2 D).

 


Table-2 A:  Recruitment by Examination/ Interview

YEAR

No. of applications received

Candidates interviewed

No. of candidates recommended

Exam.

Rectt.

Total

Exam.

Rectt.

Total

Exam

Rectt.

Total

 

 

 

Recom

N.F.S

 

1950-51*

24,680

18,047

42,727

3,383

6,484

9,867

2,780

883

120

3,783

1960-61

34,349

36,833

71,182

4,862

9,078

13,940

3,298

1,727

249

5,274

1970-71

81,539

65,197

1,46,736

3,473

13,706

17,179

4,187

2,059

190

6,436

1980-81

2,43,374

58,748

3,02,122

9,256

14,090

23,346

4,093

2,591

361

7,045

1990-91

6,15,850

72,079

6,87,929

13,838

16,788

30,626

4,625

2,341

655

7,621

2000-01

7,62,501

48,019

8,10,520

3,351

8,045

11,396

4,177

1,050

179

5,406

2001-02

7,46,953

1,80,971

9,27,924

2,962

4,170

7,132

4,084

571

89

4,744

2002-03

9,21,160

46,698

9,67,858

2,610

4,336

6,946

3,528

843

163

4,534

2003-04

11,56,233

42,325

11,98,558

4,085

2,018

6,103

4,010

355

64

4,429

2004-05

11,45,729

3,08,827

14,54,556

4,499

2,015

6,514

3,228

391

64

3,683

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


*  This data is from January 26, 1950 to March 31, 1951.

Table-2 B: Disciplinary Cases

Year

Number of Disciplinary Cases

 in which advice tendered

1950-51*

53

1960-61

101

1970-71

161

1980-81

381

1990-91

489

2000-01

815

2001-02

816

2002-03

817

2003-04

762

2004-05

903

 

Table-2 C:  Recruitment Rules Cases

Year

Number of Recruitment Rules Cases Processed

1950-51

--

1960-61

299

1970-71

907

1980-81

1,359

1990-91

1,659

2000-01

1,233

2001-02

1,200

2002-03

1,280

2003-04

1,140

2004-05

1,080

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*  This data is from January 26, 1950 to March 31, 1951.

 

 

Table-2 D: Promotion/ Deputation/ Absorption cases

YEAR

Number of promotion/ deputation/ absorption cases in which recommendations made

Cases excluding those of All India Services

Officers records disposed of for induction into All India Services

1950-51

-

   -

1960-61

  5,200 officers’ records

2,054

1970-71

12,924 officers’ records

1,617

1980-81

20,711 officers’ records

2,010 (499 officers inducted)

1990-91

35,645 officers’ records

1,488 (543 officers inducted)

2000-01

32,726 officers’ records

   840 (268 officers inducted)

2001-02

25,766 officers’ records

   451 (151 officers inducted)

2002-03

33,046 officers’ records

   680 (228 officers inducted)

2003-04

26,255 officers’ records

1,271 (462 officers inducted)

2004-05

27,975 officers’ records

1,116 (390 officers inducted)