STAFF SELECTION COMMISSION (SSC)

About:

• The Staff Selection Commission (SSC), one of the largest recruitment agencies in the country, was created to ease the burden of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) by taking over the recruitment for posts below the Group ‘A’ level.
  
  
• Arguments for giving it a statutory status:
  • The SSC performs functions similar to the UPSC and all State Public Service Commissions – which have constitutional or legal status – on a much larger scale, but still does not enjoy statutory status.
    
    
  • There has been a phenomenal increase in the workload of the SSC, from 9.94 lakh candidates in 2008-09 to over 2 crores in 2016-17.
    
    
  • Despite of this, it remains an “attached body” under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), and has to depend entirely on the government for all its needs, with no autonomy.
    
    
  • According statutory status to the SSC would contribute to greater functional autonomy and efficiency in the delivery of results in the recruitment process.
    
    
  • Earlier, an expert group constituted by the government in 2014, for reviewing the examination system in the SSC, had recommended according statutory status to the SSC.