Over the century that followed, the commission evolved in structure, status, and responsibilities, becoming what it is today: an independent constitutional body. UPSC Completes 100 Years: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) completed 100 years today, October 1, 2026. Its institutional journey began on October 1, 1926, when India’s first Public Service Commission was constituted: an advisory body whose chairman and members were appointed by the Secretary of State in London, according to a report by the Press Information Bureau.
The UPSC conducts recruitment by examination for the following posts and services: the Civil Services, Indian Forest Service, Engineering Services, Combined Medical Services, National Defence Academy & Naval Academy, Combined Defence Services, and Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants), among others. For most Indians, however, the door remained nearly impossible to open. The examination was held only in London, in English, and tested candidates on subjects such as Greek and Latin. He served for over thirty years in the Bombay Presidency. Six years after his success, Surendranath Banerjee, Behari Lal Gupta and Romesh Chunder Dutt followed. Demands from the nationalists brought gradual change. It also proposed that of every ten new entrants, four would be British, four Indian and two Indians promoted from the provincial services. Sir Ross Barker, a member of the Home Civil Service of the United Kingdom, was its first chairman, assisted by four members, and the commission was housed at Metcalfe House, Delhi.
The idea that entry into public service should rest on merit rather than patronage took shape in 1855, when the Indian Civil Service (ICS) examination was instituted in London, replacing the East India Company’s system of nomination with open competition. In 1862, 21-year-old Satyendranath Tagore sailed from Calcutta to England to appear for the exam. The maximum age for the examination was, however, progressively reduced from 23 to 19, leaving Indian candidates little time to prepare. By 1919, only 78 of the 1,255 ICS officers were Indian. The Government of India Act, 1919, enacted after the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, provided for a Public Service Commission. In 1922, the ICS examination was held in India for the first time, at Allahabad, alongside London. In 1928, the Indian centre moved to Delhi. In 1924, the Lee Commission, chaired by Arthur Hamilton Lee, recommended the immediate establishment of a statutory Public Service Commission. On paper this was a path to parity, however, in practice there was a guaranteed 40 per cent of every intake for the British, by birth rather than by competition, according to reports. The commission was established under the Public Service Commission (Functions) Rules, 1926, framed under Sections 96B and 96C of the 1919 Act.
He cleared it in 1863 and joined the service in 1864, becoming the first Indian in what the British called the “heaven-born service”.
Its limited powers drew sustained criticism from leaders of the freedom movement. Yet a permanent recruiting body now existed in India, seated and staffed in India, which is why the Commission dates its history from 1926. On August 22, 1949, Dr BR Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee, moved the draft articles on the Union and State Public Service Commissions in the Constituent Assembly. They became Part XIV (Articles 315-323) of the Constitution. In his valedictory address on November 26, 1949, Dr Rajendra Prasad emphasised that the independence of the Public Service Commissions was essential to ensure impartiality in public appointments and to guard against jobbery, nepotism, and favouritism. Article 315 of the Indian Constitution provides for Public Service Commissions for the union and for the states, with provision for a Joint Commission for two or more states.
