Pravir Kumar is a retired IAS officer (1982 batch) of UP cadre. He did B.Tech. (Electrical Engg.) from IIT Kanpur (Best All-rounder Gold medallist) and later did M.Sc. (Economics) from University of Wales, Swansea (U.K.). He has vast administrative as well as judicial experience of nearly 4 decades and has
served in various capacities in Government of Uttar Pradesh as well as Central government.
In the Central government he has served as Secretary, Govt. of India in MHA (Secretary, Inter State Council), DGFT in Department of Commerce (drafted the Foreign Trade Policy in 2015, which continued till 2023), Zonal Development Commissioner of SEZs in Gujarat (Kandla, Mundra, Dahej and nearly 50 other SEZs in Gujarat) and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of MSME.
He has also held several key positions in the Government of UP e.g. Chief Secretary, Chairman, Board of Revenue (won the Gold prize for e-governance by DARPG, Govt. of India for digitisation of land records), Agriculture Production Commissioner and as Principal Secretary/Secretary in various departments e.g. Medical Health, Urban Development (won State level prize for successfully organising Maha Kumbh 2013), Housing, Sugar Industries etc. He also served as Chairman, Noida, Greater Noida, YEIDA, Chairman, UPSRTC and Chairman, Vigilance Commission & Administrative Tribunal. As Excise Commissioner, UP he drafted the new Excise Policy, that became a model policy for the entire country later. He has also served as Managing Director of various PSUs e.g. UP Agro, PICUP, UPBSN and PCF etc. Earlier in his career he served as District Magistrate in 4 districts (Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Bahraich and Nainital) and Divisional Commissioner, Kumaon (Nainital). After his superannuation in 2019, he is presently serving as Chairman, UP Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UPSSSC).