Constitutional History of Arunachal Pradesh

Before the promulgation of the 'Constitution of lndia', the areas that were then called the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA), were administered under provisions of the Government of lndia Act 1935. On 26 January 1950, the Ministry of External Affairs took over administration of NEFA, relieving the Government of Assam. The Governor of Assam, was the representative of the President of lndia, under provisions of 6th Schedule (Part B) of the Constitution of lndia.

The area was bifurcated into five Divisions; namely, Kameng Frontier Division, Subansiri Frontier Division, Lohit Frontier Division, Siang Frontier Division and Tirap Frontier Division. The administrative control of NEFA was transferred to Ministry of Home Affairs with effect from 1 August 1965. With the transfer of the Territory to the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Divisions named above were also re-designated as Districts, and the Political Officers who were in charge of the Divisions became Deputy Commissioners.

On 21 January 1972, the Territory was reconstituted as the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh under the provisions of Section 7 of the North Eastern Area Re-Organisation Act 1971. From the same date, the President began administering the Territory through an Administrator (then called the Chief Administrator) appointed under the provisions of Article 259 of the Constitution. An Agency Council also came into being with effect from 21/1/1972 with an advisory function.

On 15 August 1975, the provisions of the Union territory Act 1963 were applied to the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh, and the former Pradesh Council became the Provisional Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh. ln place of the Chief Administrator, the Administrator of the Territory came to be the Lt. Governor. A Council of Ministers was sworn in on 15 August 1975.

On 20 February 1987, the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh was reconstituted as the State of Arunachal Pradesh comprising the territories which immediately before that day were included in the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh under the Provisions of Section-3 of the Arunachal Pradesh Act - 1986.

Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission

lmmediately after reconstitution of Arunachal Pradesh as a State, a need was felt for the State to have its own Public Service Commission to recruit and manage the Public Service of the State. Thus, the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission was established on 4 April 1988 under Article 315 of the lndian Constitution, with Shri TS Deori as its first Chairman and Shri M.R Das, IAS(Retd) & Shri Y. Tikhak as its first two Members. The Commission today consists of a Chairman, four members and is served by a Secretariat. Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission Regulations No OM-15/88 dated 29 March 1988, as amended from time to time, govern the functioning of the Commission.

The Commission, till recently, was functioning from a temporary office building, allotted by the State Government, earlier meant for the Administrative Training Centre. A new building for holding Recruitment Examinations, with a capacity of 920 seats, was added in 2018. A Guest House came up alongside in 2019. The Commission's permanent Campus has been approved and is to come up, post demolition of the existing office building. The Commission has shifted its offices to the Guest House Building and functions from there in the interim.