Prohibition as to the holding of offices by members of Commission on ceasing to be such members

Article 319, Constitution of India 1950

On ceasing to hold office—

(a) the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be ineligible for further employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State;

(b) the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of any other State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State;

(c) a member other than the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State;

(d) a member other than the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of that or any other State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State.

Draft Article 285C (Article 319 of Constitution of India 1950) was not included in the Draft Constitution 1948. It was introduced by the Drafting Committee Chairman on 22 August 1949 to ensure the independence of members of the Public Service Commission from political and professional biases. The Draft Article prohibited the chairman and members of the Union and State Public Service Commissions from holding certain positions of employment under the Union and State governments after serving as a member of the Public Service Commission.

A Member moved an amendment to replace the word ‘employment’ in Draft Article 285C with the term ‘office of profit’ instead. He wanted to restrict appointments to positions with monetary benefits that may not be categorised as employment. Further, he added that a member should not be debarred from serving the State in an honorary capacity without any monetary reward. Another member also supported this on the ground that skills of such members should be utilised without undue restrictions.

The Drafting Committee Chairman responded by stating that the purpose of the Draft Article is to ensure that members of the Public Service Commission are independent from the influence of the executive and they should not be enticed with any honorary position.

A Member also proposed that the total period of employment of a member in different public service commissions should not exceed 12 years. This was suggested to prevent the State from giving preferential treatment to any member by reappointing them in other public service commissions.

The members withdrew the above amendments and the Assembly adopted Draft Article 285C on the same day.