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 |
|