DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Bhopal Singh, who comes from an RSS background and is considered as a close confidante of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, on Wednesday took the oath as new the chairman of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission. Khattar administered the oath of office to Singh, 65, at a function here. The tenure of Singh as a member of the HSSC was to end on Wednesday. Singh replaces Bharat Bhushan Bharti, whose second consecutive term as HSSC chairman and controversy-ridden tenure ended on Tuesday.  Singh later administered the oath of office to Vijay Kumar, Satywan Shera, Vikas Dahiya and Sachin Jain as new members of the Commission. Singh is a postgraduate in eight subjects and also holds a law degree. For the past six years, he has served as a member of the Commission, an official statement said.  The chairman and member of the HSSC is appointed by the Haryana government for a term of three years. The chairman and members cease to be chairman and member on attaining the age of 68 and 65 years, respectively or on completion of three years whichever is earlier. The HSSC is competent to make selection of candidates for the appointment to the post of Group 'C' and 'D' category of the Haryana government. Speaking on the occasion, Khattar said, "The new chairman and Members of the Commission are expected to carry out the recruitment process by making a suitable schedule in an appropriate manner and as per the requisition sent by the government. "Besides, the new chairman is also expected to uphold the dignity of the Commission by following a merit-based and transparent recruitment process," the chief minister was quoted as saying in an official statement. He said the state government has already announced to conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) by tthe Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) for filling up different posts of Group C and D category. All these steps taken by the state government would not only bring about more transparency but also speed up the recruitment process, he said.  (editor@dailyworld.in)