Deepak Upreti appointed RPSC chairman

Jaipur: Senior IAS officer Deepak Upreti has been appointed new chairman of Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC). The appointment has come as great news for lakhs of candidates who were waiting for RPSC to begin recruitments. The post had been lying vacant for over two and a half months since the tenure of Dr Radheshyam Garg came to an end on May 1. Deepak Upreti was posted as additional chief secretary (ACS), home guards, Jail and chief vigilance commissioner.

New RPSC chairman appointment order.

Deepak Upreti has held many key posts. The 1986-batch IAS officer had been principal secretary in mines and petroleum department, cooperative department and medical and health department. He was also transport commissioner. He had been divisional commissioner of Ajmer and commissioner in commercial sales taxes department. He was also district collector of Alwa and Rajsamand. The new RPSC chairman order was issued by the department of personnel on Saturday.

In the previous Congress government, Deepak Upreti had been instrumental in implementing the Free Medicine Scheme. He is considered to be a genius in financial matters also. He played a key role in preparing the re-agreement draft of the Barmer refinery. Bureaucrats and senior RPSC officers congratulated him for his appointment.

Deepak Upreti has been appointment at a time when RPSC is facing criticism for its failure to conduct exams with secretary and transparency. Upreti is due to retire in October, 2018.

In the absence of the RPSC chairman, recruitments were stalled in Rajasthan. The RPSE had sought applications for these posts and released recruitment notices, but couldn’t announce a date for examinations because the RPSC chairman’s post has been vacant. The Rajasthan government had not even given an additional charge for the post to anyone.

Radheshyam Garg took over as RPSC chairman in December last year, but his tenure came to an end on May 1. Garg hails from Dholpur and has been associated with RSS.