Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission

The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) is a department of the government of Tamil Nadu which is responsible for governing the recruitment of personnel into the state's public service. It is the successor of the Madras Service Commission, which came into being under an Act of the Madras Legislature in 1929 and was the first Provincial Public Service Commission in India. It adopted its current name in 1970. It operates under Articles 315 to 323 of Part XIV of the Constitution of India.

In the year 1923, the Indian Government established a Public Service Commission to examine the salary structure of the Indian Civil Service and the possibility of transferring some of the duties to provincial services. The Commission was composed of five Englishmen and four Indians, with Viscount Lee of Fareham serving as its Chairman. The Commission also addressed the rate of Indianisation of the Indian Civil Service and the Indian Police. It determined a rate which in fifteen years would make the Indian Civil Service with a fifty per cent Indian membership and the same in twenty-five years for the Indian Police.

It was left largely to the discretion of provincial governments to recruit and exercise control over their services, as deemed proper. As a result of the discretionary powers left to provincial Government, the Government of Madras and Punjab proposed to set up their own public service commissions.

Madras Presidency was the first province in India to establish their own service commission when the Madras Service Commission was established under an Act of the Madras Legislature in 1929. The Madras Service Commission started with three members, including the Chairman. After re-organisation of the states in 1957, several state level commissions were constituted. The Madras Service Commission became the Madras Public Service Commission with headquarters at Madras in the year 1957. During 1970, when the name of the State was changed to Tamil Nadu, the Madras Public Service Commission was renamed as the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC).

Articles 316 to 319 of the Constitution of India deal with the structure of state public service commissions. TNPSC is headed by a Chairman and comprises fourteen other members, all appointed by the Governor of Tamil Nadu, in accordance with the above provisions of the Constitution of India.

As of February 2017 the Commission consists of 15 members including a chairman:

Departments of TNPSC are headed by a joint secretary, deputy secretaries and under secretaries consisting of sections headed by section officers and other subordinate staff.