Union Public Service Commission Chairperson Manoj Soni has resigned reportedly owing to personal reasons. Soni’s resignation comes a day after the Commission submitted its probe report against trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar and issued show cause notice to cancel her candidature.
Soni has reportedly resigned owing to personal reasons, five years before the expiry of his tenure in May 2029. “His resignation is not in any way connected to controversies and allegations surrounding the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) after probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar’s issue came to the fore,” officials from the Department of Personnel and Training said. Reportedly, Soni tendered his resignation a fortnight ago.
Eminent educationist Soni, 59, took over as a member of the Commission on June 28, 2017. He took oath as the UPSC chairman on May 16, 2023 and his term was to end on May 15, 2029. Prior to his appointment in the UPSC, Soni had served three terms as Vice Chancellor.
A scholar of political science with a specialisation in international relations, Soni taught international relations at Sardar Patel University (SPU), Vallabh Vidyanagar between 1991 and 2016, except for the period when he served as Vice-Chancellor of the two universities. Soni has earned a number of recognitions and awards and has significant number of publications to his credit.
