UPPSC 2024 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 124 of 150

Correct — D, 1, 2, 3 and 4. The Union Public Service Commission is a creature of the Constitution, but the Constitution is not the only thing that tells it what to do, and each of the four heads listed can be traced to a specific provision. (1) The Constitution. Articles 315 to 323, in Part XIV, create the Commission and fix its core work: Article 315 establishes a Public Service Commission for the Union and one for each State, and Article 320 sets out its duties — to conduct examinations for appointments to the services of the Union, and to be consulted on methods of recruitment, on the principles to be followed in appointments, promotions and transfers, on disciplinary matters affecting a civil servant, on claims for reimbursement of legal costs, and on certain pension claims. (2) Parliamentary laws. Article 321 is titled 'Power to extend functions of Public Service Commissions' and provides in terms that an Act made by Parliament may confer additional functions on the Union Public Service Commission, including functions in respect of the services of any local authority, corporate body or public institution. Statute is therefore an express second source, written into the Constitution itself. (3) Executive rules and orders. Article 318 empowers the President to make regulations determining the number of members of the Commission and their conditions of service; more directly, the proviso to Article 320(3) empowers the President to make regulations specifying the matters in which it shall not be necessary for the Commission to be consulted — the exemption regulations made under it decide a great deal of what actually reaches the Commission's desk. Alongside these, recruitment rules for Central services framed by the Government under the proviso to Article 309 specify where and how the Commission is to be consulted. (4) Conventions. The Constitution leaves much of the working relationship unwritten. The Commission's advice under Article 320(3) is advisory and does not bind the Government; what disciplines the relationship is partly Article 323, which requires the Commission's annual report to be laid before each House of Parliament together with a memorandum explaining every case in which its advice was not accepted, and partly settled administrative practice built up over decades. Since all four heads genuinely contribute, the inclusive option is the right one and the key marks (d).

• (a)1 and 2 — Correct as far as it goes, and therefore dangerous — the Constitution and Parliamentary law really are two sources. But the list is incomplete. It ignores the presidential regulations expressly contemplated by Article 318 and by the proviso to Article 320(3), which determine, among other things, the matters on which the Commission need not be consulted at all, and it ignores the unwritten practice that governs how the Government handles the Commission's advice.
• (b)1 and 3 — Leaves out Parliamentary laws, which is the one source the Constitution names in so many words. Article 321 is headed 'Power to extend functions of Public Service Commissions' and says an Act of Parliament may provide for the exercise of additional functions by the Union Public Service Commission; an option that excludes statute is contradicted by the text of the Constitution it claims to rely on.
• (c)Only 1 — The narrowest reading and the commonest wrong instinct — 'it is a constitutional body, so its functions must come only from the Constitution'. Being a constitutional body means the Commission is created by the Constitution and cannot be abolished by ordinary law; it does not mean the Constitution is an exhaustive statement of its work. Article 321 permits Parliament to add functions, Article 318 and the proviso to Article 320(3) permit the President to make regulations, and practice fills the remaining gaps.

The Union Public Service Commission is the central recruiting agency of the Union, established by Article 315 and dealt with in Articles 315 to 323 of Part XIV of the Constitution. Its Chairman and members are appointed by the President under Article 316, hold office for six years or until the age of sixty-five, and can be removed only by the President under Article 317 — and on the ground of misbehaviour only after the Supreme Court, on a reference by the President, has held an enquiry and reported. Its expenses, including the salaries and pensions of its members and staff, are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India under Article 322, so they are not put to the vote of Parliament. These provisions are designed to give it independence; the question here is about the different matter of where its functions come from.

The examiner's list — Constitution, Parliamentary laws, executive rules and orders, conventions — is the standard four-source formulation used in Indian public administration writing, and each head has a constitutional anchor, which is what makes the inclusive option safe rather than lazy. The reasoning route in the hall is to test the two heads a candidate is likely to doubt. Doubt Parliamentary laws? Article 321 answers it explicitly. Doubt executive rules and orders? Article 318 and the proviso to Article 320(3) both authorise presidential regulations, and Article 309's proviso lets the executive frame recruitment rules until Parliament legislates. Once those two survive, only 'conventions' is left, and a constitutional body whose advice is not binding necessarily runs on convention in the space the text leaves blank. There is a broader lesson here for prelims: an option reading 'all of the above' is not automatically a trap, and in UPPSC's polity section the inclusive option is right more often than nervous candidates assume.

• Articles 315 to 323 of Part XIV govern the Public Service Commissions. Article 315 provides for a Public Service Commission for the Union and a Public Service Commission for each State, and allows two or more States to have a Joint State Public Service Commission created by Parliament by law on the request of the State legislatures concerned.
• Article 320 lists the Commission's duties — conducting examinations for appointments to the services of the Union, and being consulted on methods of recruitment, on principles for appointments, promotions and transfers, on the suitability of candidates, on disciplinary matters, on claims for the reimbursement of legal costs incurred in defending official acts, and on certain pension claims.
• Article 321 expressly allows an Act of Parliament, or of a State legislature, to confer additional functions on the Union or the State Public Service Commission, including in respect of the services of any local authority, corporate body or public institution.
• Article 318 empowers the President to make regulations on the number of members of the Union Commission and their conditions of service, and the proviso to Article 320(3) empowers him to make regulations specifying the matters in which the Commission need not be consulted.
• Article 323 requires the Commission to present an annual report to the President, which is laid before each House of Parliament along with a memorandum explaining any case in which the Commission's advice was not accepted, and the reasons for it — the Commission's advice under Article 320(3) is advisory, not binding.

• Believing the Commission's advice binds the Government. It does not; Article 320(3) advice is advisory, and the only check is the memorandum of non-acceptance laid before Parliament under Article 323.
• Assuming a constitutional body draws its functions from the Constitution alone. Article 321 expressly permits Parliament — and a State legislature for a State Commission — to add functions.
• Mixing up appointment and removal for a State Public Service Commission. The Governor appoints its Chairman and members, but only the President can remove them, and on misbehaviour only after a Supreme Court enquiry under Article 317.

UPPSC asks this area two ways — as a source-of-authority or 'who can extend the functions' question, and as an appointment-versus-removal trap for the State Commission. UPSC prefers Article-number identification and statement-based items on the Commission's independence. Either way, memorise the block 315 establishment, 316 appointment, 317 removal, 318 regulations, 320 functions, 321 extension of functions, 322 expenses, 323 reports.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under which Article of the Constitution can the functions of a Public Service Commission be extended by law?

  • (a)Article 315
  • (b)Article 318
  • (c)Article 321
  • (d)Article 323

  Answer(c) Article 321 — 'Power to extend functions of Public Service Commissions'; an Act of Parliament may confer additional functions on the UPSC, and an Act of a State legislature on the State Public Service Commission.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The advice tendered by the Union Public Service Commission under Article 320(3) of the Constitution is

  • (a)binding on the Government of India
  • (b)binding only in disciplinary matters
  • (c)advisory, and the Government must explain any non-acceptance to Parliament
  • (d)advisory, and the Government is under no duty to disclose non-acceptance

  Answer(c) advisory, and the Government must explain any non-acceptance to Parliament — Article 323 requires the Commission's annual report to be laid before each House with a memorandum stating the cases in which its advice was not accepted and the reasons for it.