The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced the results on Tuesday and Pradeep Singh from Haryana topped the civil service examination, 2019, according to an official statement.

An IRS officer, Pradeep Singh, son of a farmer, is a resident of Panipat in Haryana.

"It is like a dream come true. It is a pleasant surprise for me. I always wanted to be an IAS officer. I would like to work for the deprived sections of society," Singh was quoted saying by a news agency.

Singh, 29, a 2019-batch Indian Revenue Service (customs and central excise) officer, is undergoing probation at the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) in Faridabad, cleared the exams in his fourth attempt.

A total of 829 candidates have been recommended for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among other civil services, it said.

Jatin Kishore and Pratibha Verma have secured second and third positions respectively. Verma is from Uttar Pradesh. Further details of the toppers have not been shared by the UPSC.

The civil services examination is conducted annually in three phases -- preliminary, main and interview -- to select candidates for the country's premier civil services.