Over ₹200 crore given to UPSC for expenses on examination, selections

Over ₹200 crore have been earmarked for expenditure on "examination and selection" of the civil servants by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in the 2024-25 Budget announced on July 23.

The Commission conducts the civil services examination annually in three stages — preliminary, main and interview — to select officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

The UPSC has been given ₹425.71 crore for the ongoing fiscal in the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Of these, ₹208.99 crore is for expenditure on salaries and allowances of the chairman and members, besides administrative expenses, among others.

A total of ₹216.72 crore has been allocated for the "expenditure in connection with the examinations, recruitment tests and selections conducted by the Union Public Service Commission", according to the Budget documents.

The Commission was given ₹426.24 crore during 2023-24.

Anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal has been allocated ₹33.32 crore for 2024-25. The provision is for establishment and construction-related charged expenditure for the Lokpal.

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has been allocated ₹51.31 crore for the current financial year.

The probity watchdog was given ₹44.46 crore for 2023-24, which was revised to ₹47.73 crore for the last fiscal.

The UPSC has been in the spotlight since probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar's case came to fore.

The Commission had recently lodged a criminal case against Khedkar, a 2023 batch probationary IAS officer, for faking her identity to fraudulently avail attempts in the civil services examination beyond eligibility.

(PTI)