UPSC to consider promotion of 27 HCS officers to IAS on July 14

In a positive development for the Haryana government and 27 Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has agreed to consider the state’s proposal for their promotion to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre. However, the UPSC is unlikely to approve the promotion of eight officers currently facing trial in a corruption case, due to restrictions imposed by central service rules and Supreme Court orders.

A Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting, headed by a UPSC functionary, is scheduled for July 14 in New Delhi to examine the names of 48 HCS officers, including the eight under trial, for promotion against 27 IAS vacancies.

Despite past objections from the UPSC, the Haryana government is pushing ahead with the same list it submitted in March 2025. That proposal was returned by the UPSC, which cited the pending criminal charges against the eight officers from the 2002 batch and asked for a revised list excluding them. However, the state has not altered the list.

Haryana has argued that a charge sheet does not constitute a final report under Section 173 of the CrPC and should not be grounds for withholding promotion. The UPSC, in a response dated May 22, rejected this reasoning as legally untenable.

The controversy traces back to alleged irregularities in the 2002 HCS recruitment during the tenure of then Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. A writ petition was filed that year, and in 2009, the Congress-led government filed an affidavit revealing tampering in the answer sheets of at least nine candidates—some of whom are now on the promotion list.

The issue resurfaced when a rejected candidate filed a complaint, prompting a Vigilance Bureau probe. In 2023, charges were filed against eight officers and former HPSC officials. Presidential sanction for prosecution was granted in June 2023, although the Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the trial.

Meanwhile, the Haryana government has also urged the Centre to raise the state’s IAS cadre strength from 225 to 252, citing that only 169 officers are currently in service, many of whom are managing multiple key portfolios.