Odisha Public Service Commission

1. The Origin of the Public Service Commission in India is found in the First Dispatch of the Government of India on Indian Constitutional Reforms on March 5, 1919 which referred to the need for setting up some permanent office charged with the regulation of service matters. This concept of a body intended to be charged primarily with the regulation of service matters, found a somewhat more practical shape in the Government of India Act, 1919. Section 96C of the Act provided for the establishment in India of a Public Service Commission which should “discharge, in regard to recruitment and control of the Public Services in India, such functions as may be assigned thereto by rules made by the Secretary of State in Council”.
2. After the passing of the Government of India Act, 1919, a prolonged correspondence took place between the Secretary of State, the Government of India and Local Governments, regarding the functions and machinery of the body to be set up. This continued for over four years. No decision was, however, arrived at, and the subject was referred to the Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India (Lee Commission). In their report dated 27th march, 1924, the Lee Commission recommended that the statutory Public Service Commission contemplated by the Government of India Act, 1919 should be established without delay.
3. In spite of the provisions of the Section 96(C) of the Government of India Act, 1919 and the strong recommendations made by the Lee Commission in 1924 for the early establishment of a Public Service Commission, it was not until October, 1926 that the Public Service Commission was set up in India for the first time.
4. The first Public Service Commission was established on October 1, 1926. The Commission consisted of four Members in addition to the Chairman, appointed by the Secretary of the State in Council. Sir Ross Barker, a member of the Home Civil Service of the United Kingdom, was the first Chairman. The Commission was built up by him and his successors on the model and in accordance with the traditions of the British Civil Service Commission.
5. The functions of the Public Service Commission were not laid down in the Government of India Act, 1919, but were regulated by the Public Service Commission (Functions) Rules, 1926 framed under sub-section (2) of Section 96(C) of the Government of India Act, 1919. These rules provided for consultation with the Commission on questions connected with the Commission on questions connected with recruitment to All-India Services and to the Central Services Class I and Class II, on questions of drawing up of syllabi for examinations and of qualifications for recruitment by selection, on promotions to these Services, on disciplinary cases, on questions connected with pay and allowances, pension, provident or family pension funds, leave rules and conditions of service, generally of any of these services.
6. The next important development in the history of Public Service Commission in India took place with the issue of a White Paper in December, 1931 containing proposals for Indian Constitutional Reforms. The White Paper also included a blue print of the Public Service Commission for the proposed Federation and the Provinces. The report of the Joint Committee on Indian Constitutional Reforms (1934) was the next step in this direction.
7. The proposal contained in the White Paper in regard to the Public Service Commission, as further elaborated in the report of the Joint Committee on Constitutional Reforms (1934) were given concrete form in Sections 264 to 268 of the Government of India Act, 1935. The Act envisaged a Public Service Commission for the Federation and a Provincial Public Service Commission for each Province or group of Provinces.
8. The Sections of the Government of India Act, 1935 relating to the Public Service Commission were brought into force on 1st April, 1937, and the then Public Service Commission at the Centre became the Federal Public Service Commission.
9. The constituent Assembly saw the need for giving a secure and autonomous status to Public Service Commission both at Federal and Provincial levels for ensuring unbiased recruitment to Civil Services as also for protection of service interests. After Independence, with the promulgation of the new Constitution for independent India on 26th January, 1950, the ‘Federal Public Service Commission’ was accorded a constitutional status and was renamed as ‘Union Public Service Commission’. The Chairman and Members of the Federal Public Service Commission became Chairman and Members of the Union Public Service Commission by virtue of Clause (1) of Article 378 of the Constitution.
10. Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) was constituted on 1 April, 1949 after its bifurcation from the former Bihar and Odisha Joint Public Service Commission. At the time of creation, the OPSC had three Members, including a Chairman. The membership increased to five in 1979 and further increased to six in 1996.
11. The Commission commenced functioning in the Old Secretariat Building at Buxibazzar, Cuttack. It shifted to its present location on Cantonment Road (now PK Parija Road) on 20th April 1984 under the Chairmanship of Shri Ananda Chandra Padhi.
12. The Commission building consists of ground floor and three upper floors, as at present. Subsequently, Guest Room cum Library building has been built and added to the complex in 2010. Existing cycle stand behind the main building has been renovated and converted into Record Room. On top of the Record Room, an Evaluation Hall has been created on 18th October 2017 to accommodate all examiners for centralized evaluation process within the Commission.

Role and Functions

Article 320 & 321 of the Constitution of India lays down functions of the Union and the State Public Service Commission. These are enumerated below as applicable to Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC).

320. Functions of Public Service Commissions

1. It shall be the duty of the State Public Service Commission to conduct examinations for appointments to services of the State.
2. The State Public Service Commission, shall be consulted-
   1. On all matters relating to methods of recruitment to civil services and for civil posts;
   2. On the principles to be followed in making appointments to civil services and posts and in making promotions and transfers from one service to another and on the suitability of candidates for such appointments promotions or transfers;
   3. On all disciplinary matters affecting a person serving under the Government of State in civil capacity, including memorials or petitions relating to such matters;
   4. On any claim by or in respect of a person who is serving or has served under the Government of State, in a civil capacity that any costs incurred by him in defending legal proceedings instituted against him in respect of acts done or purporting to be done in the executions of his duty should be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the State.
   5. On any claim for the award of a pension in respect of injuries sustained by a person while serving under the Government of State, in a civil capacity and any question as to the amount of any such award.

   And it shall be the duty of a Public Service Commission to advise on any matter so referred to them and on any other matter which the Governor of the State, may refer to them.

   Provided that the Governor, as respects to other services and posts in connection with the affairs of the State, may make regulations specifying the matters in which either generally, or in any particular class of case or in any particular circumstances, it shall not be necessary for a Public Service Commission to be consulted.

3. Nothing in clause (2) shall require a Public Service Commission to be consulted as respects the manner in which nay provision referred to in clause (3) of Art. 16 may be made or as respects the manner in which effect may be given to the provisions of Art. 335.
4. All regulations made under the proviso to clause (3) by the Governor of State shall be laid not less than fourteen days before the Legislature of the State, as soon as possible after they are made, and shall be subject to such modifications, whether by way of repeal or amendment, as the House of the Legislature of the State may make during the session in which they are so laid.

321. Power to extend functions of Public Service Commissions

An Act made by the Legislature of the State may provide for the exercise of additional functions by the State public Service Commission as respects the services of the State and also as respects the services of any local authority or other body corporate constituted by law or of any public institution.