UPSC Chairman Manoj Soni has reportedly submitted his resignation citing personal reasons. According to Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), his resignation has not been accepted yet.
The resignation of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) chairperson comes five years before the termination of his tenure and a year after taking charge. His tenure was slated to end in 2029. Manoj Soni reportedly became a Member of the Commission in 2017 and took oath to office as the Chairperson on May 16 last year.
Before his appointment to the UPSC in 2017, Soni had served three terms as a vice-chancellor at two universities in Gujarat.
He held two consecutive terms from 2009 to 2015 as the vice-chancellor of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU), Gujarat. He also served as the vice-chancellor of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda from 2005 to 2008. Soni became the youngest VC in India during his tenure at MSU Baroda.
With a specialisation in international relations studies, Manoj Soni is a renowned scholar of political science.
As per reports, Manoj Soni tendered resignation early to devote more time to Anoopam Mission, a branch of the Swaminarayan Sect in Gujarat. The UPSC Chairperson became a monk or nishkam karmayogi (selfless worker) in 2020 after receiving diksha in the Mission.
In 2005, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s close-aid, Manoj Soni, was chosen as the Vice-Chancellor of Vadodara’s MS University. Following this appointment, he became the youngest V-C in the country as he was 40-years-old at that time.
The resignation letter has reportedly been submitted to the President of India. Meanwhile, the name of the new Chairperson is awaited.
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