Public Administration Ebook
Public Administration Ebook
Ramesh
Preface
Public Administration, both as a discipline and as a optional subject for the Civil
Services Examination, has gathered momentum the recent past. The main reasons for the
increasing popularity of the subject among the Civil Service aspirants are:
One, the available literature on the subject is comparatively less as the subject has its
origin only in 1887. Two, the proportion of scores vis-à-vis the efforts put in the
preparation is perhaps the highest for Public Administration. Three, the prowess of
memory required is minimal. Four, the present day political, management and
economical affairs form a major part of the subject. Last, Proficiency in the subject will,
of course, yield good result throughout one’s career as an administrator.
C. RAMESH
VELLORE
1.2.2005
PUBLIC ADMINSITRATION:
q Public Choice School views the citizen as the ultimate source of administrative
power because he is considered as a rational consumer of public goods and services.
q The basic unit of the system is the ‘individual’ (not the sub-system)
q Sub-systems are ‘dynamic’ in the sense that they undergo continuous change as a
result of interaction with other sub-systems within the system.
q The term ‘administrative lag’ connotes the imbalance between aspirations and
performance of administration. This is a major obstacle for development in the Third
World nations.
q Fusion approach – The interests of organisation is fused with those of the workers.
Individual workers are considered as important as the organisation itself.
q Classical theory and the Human Relations theory are considered anti-polar. But, the
goals of both the theories are same,viz., economy, efficiency and use of scientific
methods in organisation.
q Gresham’s Law of Planning states that a person with responsibility for both
routine activities and long-term planning is likely to find the routine activities taking
the greater part of his time.
q Undue strict adherence to rules may also lead to ‘bias’ for red tape. This is called
the ‘administrative bias’.
Honey Report (1967) identified four problems confronting Public Administration. They
are: 1. Inadequate funds 2.Uncertainty and confusion over the status of the discipline 3.
Institutional shortcomings and 4. Lack of interaction between scholars and
administrators.
New Public Administration emphasised four factors: Relevance, Values, Change and
Social equity.
Under the traditional Public Administration, there was a mismatch between the supply of
public administration and the demand of the people. Though the Public Administration
functioned well, it failed to solve the contemporary problems. Hence, the New Public
Administration demanded that there should be relevance between Public Administration
and the contemporary social problems.
New Public Administration attacked the traditional concept of maintaining status quo
(same status) and advocated innovation and change.
New Public Administration is called anti-positivist. Positivist denotes the perception that
everything is perfect. But, the reality of the situation was not so. Hence NPA had no faith
in the concept of ‘positivist’ and hence one of its anti-goals was anti-positivist.
According to Riggs, five important functions are discharged in all the societies. They are:
1. Economic 2. Social 3. Communication 4. Symbolic and 5. Political.
Formalism means the extent to which a discrepancy exists between the prescriptive and
descriptive – ideals and realities – objectives and performance – aims and achievements.
Formalism is the opposite of realism.
Constitutional formalism is the gap between the constitutional principles and their
actual implementation. One example for constitutional formalism in India is that while
the function of legislation (law making) is entrusted to the legislators by the Constitution,
it is delegated to the bureaucrats in the name of delegated legislation.
q Bias may be the result of fear, on the part of the public servant, of the consequences
of his actions. This may drive the administrator to reckon the reaction of his boss as
q In so far as decisions led to the selection of final organisational goals, they are
‘value judgements’ and where the organisation implements such goals, they are
‘factual judgements’.
q Herbert Simon proposed that the factual and value (or ethical) elements should be
separated as far as possible and allocated between politicians and administrators
respectively.
q ‘Goal congruence’ means identity between the individual goals and the
organisational goals. It is the main objective of the fusion approach to achieve ‘goal
congruence’, that is, to fuse the interest of the workers and that of the organisation
together.
q According to Herzberg’s Two Factor theory, the opposite of satisfaction on the job
is NOT dissatisfaction. Both are different and discrete feelings. They are not opposite
ends of the same continuum, but are ends of separate continuums.
q In the Linking Pin Model of Likert, each individual in the organisation has twin
roles in two overlapping groups. He is a member of a higher level group and the
leader of a lower-level group.
q Violation of the principle of Unity of Command does not actually occur when an
employee receives orders from more than one superior in respect of different
matters under his charge.
q The Legal-rational authority system of Max Weber is called ‘rational’ because the
means are clearly designed to achieve certain specific ends.
q According to Terry, delegation does not necessarily imply devolution from a higher
to a lower authority. It can be vice versa or between units equal in status.
q In delegation, ‘de jure’ (formal) authority still belongs to one who delegates while
the ‘de facto’ (informal) exercise is permitted to the delegatee.
q The Administrative Reforms Commission stated that based on trust, the delegation
of powers should be to the maximum possible and NOT ‘minimum necessary’.
q Max Weber believed that all the three types of authority (Legal, traditional and
charismatic) claim legitimacy as long as the ‘ruled’ accept them. The authority ceases
to carry legitimacy when the rulers do illegal things (in legal authority), ignore the
traditions (in traditional authority) and lose charisma (in Charismatic authority).
q According to M.P.Follet, like authority, responsibility also flows from the function
(work) and situation, and NOT from the status in the hierarchy. According to her, one
should ask “for what is he responsible?” rather than to ask “to whom is he
responsible?”
q The purpose of the optional subjects in the Civil Service Examination is to test the
intellectual equipment and scholastic abilities of the candidates.
q The purpose of the Personality Test is to examine the personal qualities of the
candidates.
q While Board and Commission undermine unity of command, bureau does not
undermine it. The reason is that a single person mans a bureau, while a board or
commission is generally manned by more than one person.
q Decentralisation alleviates the problem of “communication overload” in the
organisation by reducing paper work at both higher and lower levels.
q Executive control over Civil service in India is easier than that in USA. The reasons
are: Parliament in India is not a rival to the Prime Minister, the Cabinet relieves the
burden of the Prime Minister and acts as a coordinator; and there are comparatively
few political appointees at the top.
q The Parliament can only accept, reduce or deny the demand made in the
Appropriation Bill, but cannot increase a demand or a tax. The Executive, who needs
money, places the Appropriation bill. The parliament cannot give more money than
needed by the executive.
q Public Accounts Committee scrutinises the report of the Comptroller and Auditor
General (CAG). But the report of the CAG is not directly submitted to the PAC. The
report is submitted first to the President who lays it before the Lok Sabha, which it
turn gives it to the PAC for scrutiny.
q The system of Public Accounts Committee was adopted from the U.K. However,
the Secretaries to the ministers in UK appear before the PAC in their capacity as
“Accounting Officers”, whereas in India, the Secretaries appear before the PAC in
their capacity as “administrators” and not as accounting officers.
q The Writ of Habeas Corpus is issued not only against authorities of the
Government but also to private individuals or organisations, if needed.
In his book “Big Democracy”, Paul Appleby observed that (a)breadth of scope (b)public
accountablility and (c) political character are three important features of Public
administration which differentiates it from Private administration.
Chester Barnard is considered as the spriritual father of the “social system school” and
a forerunner of Behavioural movement in Public Administration.
The work of Rensis Likert and his colleagues is often referred to as ‘neo-Human
Relations’. Likert is wellknown for his theory of “Management Systems 1—4”. He
invented the concept of “Linking Pins” – individuals capable of linking each work group
to the organisation.
Clect: A prismatic social group that combines modern forms of association with a
traditional communal orientation. It is taken from the words clique (or clan) and sect.
Diffracted Society: Denotes a social system where each structure performs a limited
number of functions. It stands for a highly developed society in which all structures are
highly specific and new structures are both differentiated and integrated. This represents
developed societies.
Fused Society: A social system where all structures are highly diffused and each structure
performs a large number of functions. Riggs coined this term to represent an undeveloped
traditional society.
Grape vine: The informal communication network within the organisation. It arises
spontaneously without management’s sanction or permission.
The income tax collected by the Centre is necessarily distributed between the Centre and
the States. However, the Centre retains the surcharge on income tax and it is not
distributed among the States.
Unlike the income tax, it is not mandatory on the Central Government to distribute
Excise duty.
The High Courts shall exercise Writ Jurisdiction for the enforcement of Fundamental
rights and for any other purpose also. But Supreme Court can exercise its Writ
jurisdiction only for the purpose of enforcing the Fundamental rights. Thus the Writ
jurisdiction of High courts is wider than that of the Supreme Court.
All disputes among States arising out of any treaty, agreement etc entered upon before
the commencement of the Constitution are outside the original jurisdiction of the
Supreme Court. The President (not by the Supreme Court) on the basis of advisory
opinion of the Supreme Court decides these disputes.
While getting approval for the Presidential Ordinance, if the two Houses (Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha) are summoned on different dates, the period of six weeks shall be counted
from the latter date.
The Right to property deleted from the Fundamental rights by the 44th Amendment 1978,
and converted into an ordinary legal right under Article 300 A.
By the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976, 5 subjects were shifted from the State List
to the Concurrent List. They are 1.Administration of Justice and Organisation of all
courts except the Supreme Court and the High Courts 2. Forests 3.Population control and
Family Planning 4. Education, including medical and technical, and 5. Weights and
measures except establishment of Standards.
Unlike a federation, India is a Union of States. This means two things: 1. Indian Union
is not a result of agreement of independent and sovereign states (whereas Federation is a
result of such agreement). 2. The States do not have right to secede from the Union
(whereas in the case of Federation, the constituent units shall have the right to secede
from the Federation).
The Balwantray Mehta Committee was appointed by the National Development Council
to suggest measures for the better working of the Community Development Programme
(CDP) and the National Extension Service (NES). But it is commonly believed that it was
As ‘Democray’ is the rule by the people, ‘Gerantocracy’ means rule by the old people.
Generally it prevails in the tribal communities.
There are two Businesses Advisory Committees, one for the Lok Sabha and another for
the Rajya Sabha. The BAC of the Lok Sabha is headed by the Speaker and consists of 15
members. The BAC of the Rajya Sabha is headed by its Chairman and has 10 members.
While counting the disqualification period of 60 days for MPs, that period will not be
counted when the House was adjourned for more than 4 days consecutively.
Under Article 87 of the Constitution, the Presidential Address to both the Houses of
Parliament (assembled together) is mandatory at the commencement of the first session
of each year or after every general election.
q Whenever a money bill is transmitted from the Lok Sabha to the Rajya Sabha under
Article 109, and when it is presented to the President for his assent under Article 111,
a certificate of the Speaker that it is a money bill is required to be given.
INDIAN ADMINISTRATION
q In India, Rule 4 of the Central Civil Service (Conduct) Rules 1955 debars a
Government servant from being a member of any political party.
q Unlike the All India Service officers (IAS/IPS/IFS), the Central Service officials do
not work under the State Governments while working in the States. They, however,
work with the State Governments. But, the All India Service Officers work under the
State.
q The Satish Chandra Committee recommended that those candidates who could get
through the main examnation but failed in the interview might be allowed to take the
main examination directly next year. The Government did not accept this
recommendation.
q Sadiq Ali Committee on Panchayat Raj (1964) recommended that the recruitment
system in Panchayat Raj Institutions should be characterised by efficiency,
impartiality and correctness.
q Irrespective of their division among different States, each of the All-India Services
form a single service with common rights and status and uniform scale of pay
throughout the country. An IAS Officer working in Tamilnadu draws the same salary
and enjoys the same privileges as his counterpart in Bihar or in any other State.
q While the State Public Service Commissions and the Union Public Service
Commission are created directly by the Constitution, Joint Public Service
Commissions can be created only by an act of Parliament.
q Generally, any advice rendered by the Supreme Court is not binding on the
President. However, the advice rendered by the Supreme Court regarding
‘misbehaviour’ of Chairman/member of the UPSC is binding on the President.
q Art.314 (omitted by 28th Amendment, 1972) provided for special privileges to the
ICS Officers by the British Crown. This provision was deleted because it violated the
fundamental right to equality.
q Under Article 351 of the Constitution, it is the duty of the Union to promote the
spreading of Hindi and its enrichment.
q The Constitution nowhere mentions the words “President’s Rule” and “Budget”.
q While there is time limit for National and State emergencies, there is no time limit
for Financial Emergency and it will continue till the President revokes it.
q In Schedule VII, which deals with division of powers between the Centre and the
States, “major ports” comes under the Union List while “minor ports” comes under
the “Concurrent List”.
q The term “Socialism” in Indian Constitution does not mean “State Socialism”(that
is ownership of all means of production and distribution by the State as in the case of
Russia). Rather, it means reducing the inequalities between rich and poor. This is also
referred to as ‘socialistic pattern of society’. The Indian National Congress in its
Avadi Session in 1955 adopted this as a goal.
q The States’ Reorganisation Commission (1956) was chaired by Fazal Ali. The
members of the Commission were K.M.Panikkar and H.N.Kunzru.
q It has been provided by the 70th Amendment 1992 that elected members of the
Legislative Assemblies of Union Territories of Pondicherry and Delhi can also
participate in the election of the President of India.
q The Vice-President can be removed from Office before the expiry of the term, by a
resolution, first passed by majority of the members of Rajya Sabha and agreed to by
the Lok Sabha.
q If the Vice-President is unable to discharge his duties and functions due to illness or
temporary absence, no other official is entitled to act as Vice-President.
q An MP cannot be arrested before and after 40 days of the date from the meeting of
Parliament and Committees thereof, if he is also the member of a committee (only in
civil cases).
q If the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha disagreed on a bill, there is provision for joint
sitting of both the Houses. However, similar provision of joint sitting is not provided
in the Constitution in the case of disagreement between Legislative Assembly and the
Legislative Council in the State.
q By the 1858 Act, the governor-general of India was designated also as the “Viceroy
of India”. The same person held both the posts. The difference is that, while dealing
with the administration of Indian provinces, he was called Governor General of India
and while dealing with Indian princes, as a representative of the Crown, he was
termed as “Viceroy of India”.
q 1861 Act accorded statutory sanction to the “Portfolio System” introduced by Lord
Canning in 1859, according to which each member of the Governor-General-in-
Council was allocated portfolio of a particular department.
q 1892 Act authorised the members of the Legislative Council to ask questions with
respect to discussion on Budget. But they were not given the right to ask
supplementary questions. This may be termed as the beginning of parliamentary
system in India.
q According to Article 88, every minister and the Attorney-General, even if they are
not members of either House, shall have the right to participate in the proceedings of
the either House, any joint sitting of the Houses and any Parliamentary Committee
(but do not have the right to vote).
q The office of the UPSC is part of the Central Secretariat. Hence the staff of both
UPSC and Central Secretariat are interchangeable in case of promotions and transfers.
Office of the UPSC does not mean the Chairman and the members, but it means the
other official staff who are in the administration.
q Under the UPSC (Exemption from Consultation) Regulations, 1958, the Atomic
Energy Department and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
have been authorised to recruit their Class-I and Class-ii staff directly.
q UPSC conducts examinations for three statutory bodies, viz., Delhi Municipal
Corporation, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and the Employees’
Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
q Under Article 315(3) of the Constitution, the Governor of a State can request the
UPSC to serve all or any of the needs of the State, after the approval of the President.
q Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) does not cater to Private Sector but
to Government and Public Sector only. However, the Administrative Staff College at
Hyderabad caters to the private sector also.
q Indian origin migrated from the following countries are allowed to apply for the
Indian Civil Service Examination. Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam.
q Public Administration, as an optional subject was added by the UPSC in the year
1987.
Sunset Legislation is a formal process of policy review for eliminating the undesired,
outdated, redundant and irrelevant programmes.
Budgeting should be ‘Gross’ and not ‘Net’. This is because, ‘Net Budgeting’ reduces the
legislative control over finance.
The difference between the Revenue Budget and Capital Budget is that the former is
financed out of the current revenue while the latter is financed out of the savings and
borrowings.
Four organs are involved in the preparation of Budget. The Finance Ministry has the
overall responsibility for the formulation of the Budget. The Administrative Ministries
have a detailed knowledge of administrative requirements. The Planning Commission
facilitates the incorporation of Plan priorities in the Budget. The Comptroller and
Auditor General provides the accounting skills.
Article 113 states that no demand for a grant shall be made except on the
recommendation of the President.
The post of Integrated Financial Advisor was introduced first in the Ministry of Shipping
and Transport in 1974 on an experimental basis.
The Contingency Fund of India is held by the Finance Secretary on behalf of the
President.
Deficit Financing has a negative effect on the economy, i.e., inflation. This is because it
increases the supply of money in the economy without a corresponding increase in supply
of goods and services.
External Debt is more dangerous than internal debt. This is because unlike internal debt,
external debt involves material loss to the debtor country as the principal amount and the
interest thereof is transferred to another country, which affects the ‘Balance of Payment’
Debt-trap: When a country is in a critical situation of not able to pay even the interests
on debts and it resorts again to borrowing in order to pay the interest (not for paying the
principal debt), it is said to under Debt-trap.
Repudiation denotes a country’s refusal to pay its debts or interest thereof or both debts
and interest to other country.
Conversion means when the rate of interest falls, the government converts the old loan
into a new loan and thus reduces its interest payments.
The main reason for separation of audit from accounts is that accounting is an executive
function while auditing is a quasi-parliamentary function.
Though the audit and account functions were separated in 1976 at the Centre level, the
Comptroller and Auditor General is still responsible for the compilation and maintenance
of accounts of the States, which have not separated accounts from audit.
Controller General of Accounts: When the functions of audit were separated from those
of accounting in 1976, a new office of the Controller of Accounts was established as a
part of the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.
It is generally believed that the forms of accounts are prescribed by the Comptroller and
Auditor General. But the forms of accounts are prescribed by the President (not by the
CAG) on the advice of the CAG under Article 150.
Comptroller and Auditor General of India is the head of the Indian Audit and Accounts
Department.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India can conduct two types of audit – 1. Legal
audit (or Regulatory audit) 2. Propriety audit. Legal or Regulator audit means to check
whether rules and regulations have been complied with. Propriety audit, on the other
hand, means checking the ‘wisdom, faithfulness and economy’ of expenditure. While
Legal or Regulatory audit is obligatory/compulsory, propriety audit is only
discretionary/optional on the part of the CAG.
The CAG is an agent of the Parliament and conducts audit on behalf of the Parliament.
Thus, when he is independent in his own sphere of activity, he is responsible to the
Parliament.
The CAG of Britain is different from one of India. In Britain, the Government can draw
money from the Consolidated Fund only after getting the approval of the CAG. This
power is meant by the word ‘Comptroller’. Though the same word ‘Comptroller’ is
adopted in India also, the CAG in India has no power to sanction withdrawal of money
from the Consolidated Fund.
It is based on convention that persons selected for the post of Governor should normally
be an outsider, that is, resident of another state.
Recently the Supreme Court has held that it is the discretionary power of the Governor to
give permission for prosecuting the erring ministers, including the Chief Minister. In this
case, the Governor is not required to act on the advice rendered by the Council of
Ministers.
The President/Governor can exercise his power of ‘Pardoning’ either before trial or
during or even after trial.
The President has no discretionary powers and in all cases he has to act on the advice of
the Council of Ministers. The Governor however has discretionary powers as well as
‘special responsibilities’. In both the cases, he need not act according to the advice of the
Council of Ministers.
The difference between discretionary powers and special responsibilities: In the case
of discretionary areas, the Governor need not consult or act in accordance with the
Council of Ministers. In the case of Special Responsibilities, he has to consult the
Council of Ministers, but the final decision can be taken on his individual judgement.
Matters which are not explicitly mentioned as ‘discretionary powers’ but the Governor
can act without ministerial advice are: 1. Sending report to the President under Article
356 (2) Reserving a bill for the consideration of the President (3) Granting permission for
prosecution of erring ministers.
As regards matters on which the Governor is empowered to act in his discretion or on his
‘special responsibility’, the Governor will be under the complete control of the President.
Usually, the officers coming from the State Civil Services are designated as ‘Deputy
Secretary’ while those coming from the IAS is designated as ‘Joint Secretary’. Similarly,
officers from the State Civil Service are designated as Deputy collector or Deputy
Superintendent of Police whereas those from the IAS/IPS directly are designated as
‘Assistant Collector/Assistant Superintendent of Police’.
The usual Tenure system of placing officers in the Secretariat (in the Centre) applies to
the State Secretariat also. The officers of the IAS and State Civil Service come on
deputation to the Secretariat and go back to their field on completion of their tenure.
Governor’s executive powers are coextensive with the legislative powers of the State
Legislature. With this, he can issue orders/rules in such matters where no legislation is
there.
Under three circumstances, the Governor cannot promulgate ordinance without the prior
instructions of the President. They are: (1). If a bill, containing the same provision, would
require the prior sanction of the President before its introduction (2). If the Governor
would have deemed it necessary to reserve a bill, containing the same provision for the
consideration of the President. (3). If an Act under the same provision would have been
reserved for the consideration of the President and would have received his assent.
There is no bar in the Constitution on the number of times the Governor can promulgate
the same Ordinance.
The powers of the Governor as chancellor of Universities are provided in the Constitution
but are given by the legislative enactment of the State.
Adjournment, prorogation and dissolution are different from one another. Adjournment
is an interruption (small interval) in the normal business of the Assembly in the course of
one and the same session (say, winter session). The power to adjourn the House is
exclusively exercised by the Speaker, and the Governor has no say in this. Prorogation
means an end of a session of the Assembly. Pending bills, if any, can however continue
for forthcoming sessions. The power to prorogate is with the President/Governor.
Dissolution means end of the Assembly itself. It applies to Lok Sabha/State Assembly
only as the Rajya Sabha/State Council is permanent. With this fresh elections shall
continue. Pending bills, if any, will lapse. This is exercised by the President/Governor, as
the case may be.
If the Council of Ministers enjoy a majority and still demand dissolution of the House,
the Governor has no other alternative but to dissolve the House.
The Lok Sabha rules prohibit a minister from being chosen as a member of the Public
Accounts Committee.
The election of members to the Public Accounts Committee is based on the system of
proportional representation with single transferable vote. This is to ensure proportional
participation by all the major political parties in the PAC.
The basic principles of natural justice are: (1) No person shall be condemned unheard. (2)
No one is above law. (3) No man should be a judge in his own case (4) Justice should not
only be done but manifestly and undoubtedly seem to have been done.
In USA, Civil Service is fast becoming a career. However, a substantial portion of top-
level jobs is still outside the Civil Service. Such jobs falling outside the Civil Service is
called “Schedule-C” jobs.
UPSC is not concerned with (1) Classification of Services (2) Pay and Service
Conditions (3) Cadre Management and (4) Training.
The subjects (citizens) of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibetan refugee are not eligible for Indian
Foreign Service.
IMPORTANT COMMITTEES/COMMISSIONS