Lok Sewa Aayog (Public Service Commission of Nepal): Profile, Mandate and Office Directory

Lok Sewa Aayog (the Public Service Commission, PSC) was established on 15 June 1951, corresponding to Ashad 1, 2008 BS, in the wake of Nepal's 2007 BS (1951) democratic transition that ended the Rana regime. Its creation introduced merit-based, competitive recruitment so that any qualified Nepali citizen could compete for entry into the civil service, replacing earlier systems of patronage appointment.

The first commission was a three-member body chaired by Nagendra Man Singh Pradhan, with its initial office inside the Singha Durbar complex in Kathmandu. From this start the institution grew into the principal gateway for government employment in Nepal, and successive constitutions — including the Interim Constitution of 2007 (2063 BS) and the Constitution of Nepal 2015 (2072 BS) — have each re-established it as an independent constitutional commission.

The PSC is entrenched in Part 23 of the Constitution of Nepal 2072 (2015). Article 242 provides for the constitution of the Commission, and Article 243 sets out its functions, duties and powers, giving it constitutional independence from the executive and the routine ministries. As a constitutional body it reports through the President to Parliament rather than to any single ministry.

Under Article 243, the core duty of the Commission is to conduct examinations to select suitable candidates for appointment to positions in the federal Civil Service. The Commission also conducts written examinations for appointment to other federal services and to the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force, and it must be consulted on the general principles governing appointment, promotion and departmental punishment in those services, as well as on the conditions of service of staff of bodies corporate.

Article 242 provides that the Commission consists of a Chairperson and other members, with the total number fixed so that the Commission may comprise the chairperson and up to four members (a maximum of five). The Chairperson and members are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council, the high-level body that nominates heads of constitutional commissions.

Eligibility blends bureaucratic and professional expertise: at least half of the members are to be persons who have served in a government post for twenty years or more, while the remaining members are drawn from people of high repute in fields such as science, technology, arts, literature, law, public administration or sociology. The Chairperson and members hold office for six years from appointment.

An office becomes vacant on resignation, on attaining 65 years of age, on death, or on removal. The Chairperson and members can be removed in the same manner as a judge of the Supreme Court — that is, through impeachment under Article 101 — and may also be relieved of office by the President on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council on grounds of incapacity to perform duties due to physical or mental illness.

In day-to-day terms, the Commission — universally known in Nepali as 'loksewa' — designs syllabuses, publishes vacancy advertisements, administers preliminary (objective) and main written examinations, conducts practical tests and interviews, and recommends successful candidates for appointment. The process is widely regarded as one of the most trusted and competitive recruitment routes in the country, with hundreds of thousands of applicants each year for posts ranging from peon and Kharidar up to Section Officer (Adhikrit) and higher gazetted classes.

Recruitment is organised into service groups and sub-groups, and competition is structured to reflect Nepal's inclusion provisions, with quotas for women, Adivasi/Janajati, Madhesi, Dalit, persons with disabilities and backward areas alongside open competition. The Commission also submits an annual report on its work to the President, which is laid before the federal Parliament for discussion.

The Commission's head office is in Kamalpokhari, Kathmandu, and historically operated from the Anamnagar/Singha Durbar area of the capital. Beneath the head office, the PSC runs a network of directorate offices and subordinate (zonal/branch) offices so that candidates across all seven provinces can register and sit examinations closer to home.

The specific examination centre (building) assigned for any given advertisement is published before each exam in the notice (suchana) section of the official website, psc.gov.np, and is not fixed — large campuses such as Tri-Chandra College, Patan Campus and Shanker Dev Campus in Kathmandu are frequently used because of their seating capacity. The standing office locations below are durable; the exact hall allocations change with each examination cycle.

Federalism under the 2015 Constitution added a second tier of merit recruitment. Article 244 provides for a Provincial (State) Public Service Commission in each province, established by provincial law, to handle examinations and recommendations for provincial government services and local-level positions. These provincial commissions are distinct from the federal Lok Sewa Aayog, although their structure and independent character mirror the national body, and they coordinate with the federal Commission on common principles of recruitment.