Dr. Manoj Soni, an eminent educationist sworn in as the chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday.

On June 28, 2017, Dr. Soni joined the Commission as a member. He has been working as UPSC chairman since April 5, 2022.

In a statement, Personnel Ministry said, “He was administered the oath of office and secrecy as chairman, of UPSC by Smita Nagaraj, a senior member of the Commission”.

The UPSC holds civil services examinations to select officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others positions.

The Commission is led by a chairman and has a maximum of ten members. There are presently five vacancies in the UPSC.

Dr. Soni was Vice-Chancellor for three terms prior to his nomination to the UPSC.

According to his official bio-data, these include two conservative terms as VC of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU), Gujarat from August 1, 2009, to July 31, 2015, and one term as VC of The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda from April 2005 to April 2008.

The statement further said, “Dr. Soni was the youngest Vice-Chancellor in India and the MSU at the time he joined the MSU of Baroda”.

He was a political science scholar with a specialization in international relations studies, who taught international relations at Sardar Patel University (SPU), Vallabh Vidyanagar between 1991 and 2016, except while he was Vice-Chancellor of the two universities.

“Dr. Soni has received numerous recognitions and honors as well as major publications”, the statement added.

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