PUSHED TO THE MARGIN
* Among 967 members, there are 91 Muslims
* Two Muslim women heads in Bihar and Tamil Nadu
* No Muslims as chiefs and members in 13 states
* Gujarat also had no Muslim PSC chief or member
FEWER Muslims have had the opportunity to head the State Public Service Commissions (SPSCs) established under Articles 315 to 323 of the Constitution to conduct recruitment exams that acts as entry points for coveted services in their administrations, according to a new book by Mohammed Abdul Mannan, At the Bottom of the Ladder: State of the Indian Muslims –https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25 – which quantifies Muslim presence in 150 key organisations, including Union ministries, departments, and other organisations.
Most of the chairpersons and members have extensive experience in civil services, education, and administration domains. The SPSCs, several of them originating before independence, have their own exam patterns, eligibility conditions and syllabus. As many as 22 Muslims have headed the SPSCs out of a total of 474, while 91 of their members have been from the country’s biggest minority out of a total of 967 as of mid-2024.
Public Service Commissions (PSCs) in India have a history rooted in British colonial rule, evolving from a central body to a more comprehensive system with both Union and State Commissions. In 1935, the Government of India introduced the Federal Public Service Commission and Provincial Public Service Commissions.
This came after the October 1926 establishment of the first Public Service Commission (PSC) in India during the British Raj on the recommendation of the Lee Commission. The commission was tasked with overseeing recruitment to the British Civil Service and evolved into the current Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) after independence.
The SPSCs were also established to oversee recruitment to state services. In 1950, the Constitution of India granted statutory status to the Federal Public Service Commission, which was renamed the UPSC.
Andhra Pradesh, which established its Public Service Commission in November 1956 after its formation with a chairman and three members, has seen 21 chairpersons, of whom none was a Muslim. Its members increased to five in 1981, seven in 1983, and nine in 1994, and this number remains the same even after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. All through the years, it had seen 50 members, including two Muslims – Dr Mohammed Ali Rafat in 2015 and S Salam Babu in 2019.
Arunachal Pradesh had seen 10 chairpersons at its PSC since April 1988, with no Muslim on the list. It has seen 26 members, which also had no Muslim, as had been the case with 27 secretaries. Assam had the PSC since 1937, whose composition had undergone several changes since its inception. Having only a chairman and two members from 1937 to 1951, the number of members went up by one in the 1951-1986 period, six members in 1986-91, 10 members in 1991 and again from 2005 to six. One of its 32 chairpersons had been a Muslim, Asif Ali, a retired IAS officer from March 1984 to July 1989. As many as 18 of its 89 members had been Muslims including a woman – Nafisa Ahmed, in 2016.
Its first head had been a Muslim in 1937 – Mozammil Hussain for a year, and the last Muslim to head it as In-Charge was Nazreen Ahmed, a retired woman ACS officer until 2024. Its 38 secretaries had one Muslim, M U Ahmed Choudhary, way back in March 1941 for three years.
No Muslim had been the Principal Controller of Examinations out of 10 since 2010. Bihar, which set up its PSC in April 1949, which became a constitutional body in January 1950, had seen 29 chairpersons, including three Muslims – A K M Hassan from 1985-89, Dr Razia Tabassum in 2003 for a year, and Imtiyaz Ahmad Karimi, a BAS official, in 2024.
Two of its members have been Muslims – Shahnawaz Khan, in 2013-17, and Imtiaz Ahmed Khan in 2024. The commission began its functioning at Ranchi and shifted its headquarters to Patna in March 1951. It had a chairman and 10 other members. The strength of members was reduced to six after the bifurcation of Bihar and Jharkhand in October 2002. Eighteen of its current officials include no Muslims. The last Muslim official was in 2018 – G Mohammed Ansari, its Deputy Secretary.
In Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, there had been no Muslims either as chairpersons or members of PSCs. Chhattisgarh had seen 11 chairpersons and 17 members till now, while Goa had 12 chairpersons and nine members. Gujarat had 12 chairpersons and 40 members and Haryana had four chiefs and 21 members. Himachal Pradesh had 17 chiefs and five members.
Also, Maharashtra had not seen a single Muslim either as the PSC chairperson or a member out of 10 and 25, respectively. Presently, its six members, including chairperson, have no Muslim. The same has been the case with Punjab, formed in 1956, which had seen 11 PSC chiefs and 15 members. Punjab Public Service Commission was originally formed as the Joint Public Service Commission in Lahore in May 1937.
In February 1948, India and Pakistan, following partition a year earlier, revised their provisions that led Punjab Public Service Commission coming into existence, extending over the province of East Punjab. India later merged Punjab and Patiala and East Punjab, which made the government shift the commission to Patiala in November 1956. A decade later, its territorial jurisdiction was curtailed due to the formation of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. It was split into two constitutional bodies in 1966, one each for India and Pakistan.
Sikkim State Public Service Commission (SPSC), established in 1978 and functioning since 1982, has seen nine chairpersons and 20 members, of whom none were Muslims. Similarly, Tripura had seen 19 chairpersons and 28 members without a Muslim on the panel. Uttarakhand had seen nine chairpersons and 29 members, of whom none was a Muslim.
Mizoram had one chairperson and three members, with no Muslims. Nagaland had seen five PSC chairpersons and nine members, of whom none was a Muslim. Manipur PSC had 28 chairpersons without a Muslim, while one of its 24 members had been a Muslim – M A Sattar way back in 2011 for three years. Meghalaya had one Muslim out of 16 chairpersons, while three were Muslims among the 37 members, the last being in 1991.
Jharkhand had seen four chiefs of PSC since November 2000 and three members of whom one had been a Muslim – Dr Jamal Ahmed. Six of its six senior officials are Muslims – Ishtiyaq Ahmad, a Joint Secretary. Madhya Pradesh had seen 18 PSC chiefs without a single Muslim heading it, while six of its 66 members have been Muslims, the last being in 2003. One of them had two Muslims: Rehana Nizam, from 1987 to 1993, and Razia Sultan Alim, from 1981 to 1987.
No Muslim had been the head of the Tripura PSC out of 19 and 28 members. Similarly, Uttarakhand had seen nine heads and 29 members, which included no Muslims. The Hyderabad Public Service Commission was established in 1947 based on the model of the British Provincial Public Service Commission.
Now, the Telangana Public Service Commission, set up in August 2014, has seen four chairpersons and 22 members, which included two Muslims – Dr Mohammed Mateen Uddin Quadri, from 2014 to 2020, and Dr Amir Ullah Khan, an economist, since January 2024. Karnataka had seen 13 PSC chiefs of whom none was a Muslim, while one of the 67 members had been a Muslim – Saeed Ahmed Khan, from 2016 to 2019.
Between 2019 and 2024, it had seen 16 members, of whom one is a Muslim – Mustafa Hussain Syed Azeez, from September 2023 onwards. Only two are Muslims are its 29 Deputy Secretaries, 98 Assistant Secretaries, and 15 DEOs are Muslims. Kerala had the first Public Service Commissioner in Travancore in June 1936, which was replaced by the Travancore-Cochin Public Service Commission in 1949 after the integration of the Travancore and Cochin states.
The Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) came up in 1956 and out of its 17 chiefs, only two had been Muslims – K V Salahuddin, from 2006 to 2011, and M K Shakeer, from 2016 to 2022. It had seen a total of 139 members, of whom 16 had been Muslims. Presently, its 19 members include three Muslims, while none of its 20 Secretaries has been a Muslim.
The Secretary is assisted by three Additional Secretaries, one of whom is the Controller of Examinations, 12 Joint Secretaries, 22 Deputy Secretaries and 64 Under Secretaries. Of them, only 12 are Muslims. Tamil Nadu had three Muslims as its PSC chief since 1932, the last being in 2001 to 2007 – Yasmin Ahmed, a woman, and no Muslim among its members.
Odisha had zero Muslims among its 35 PSC chiefs, while one of the 58 members had been a Muslim – Mohammed Fida Rasool, from 1993 to 1999. Rajasthan had three Muslims among the 38 chiefs, the last being in 2012 to 2014, and three Muslims among its 66 members, the last being in 2001 to 2006. In Uttar Pradesh, no Muslim had headed its PSC, while five out of 30 members had been Muslims. West Bengal had two Muslims among its 28 chiefs and seven out of 35 members were Muslims. Jammu and Kashmir has eight Muslims out of its 21 chiefs and 20 Muslim members out of the total of 52.
To read and obtain more data, please visit:
At the Bottom of the Ladder: State of the Indian Muslims –
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