Role of Civil Service in democracy
Role of Civil Service in democracy
The Indian civil service system is one of the oldest administrative systems
in the world. In India, it had its origin in the Mauryan period.
Kautilya’s Arthashastra lays down the following principles:
selection and promotion of the civil servants,
the conditions of loyalty for appointment to the civil service,
the methods of their performance evaluation
the code of conduct to be followed by them.
During the medieval period (1000-1600 AD), Akbar the Great founded and
nurtured the civil service. His civil service had welfare and a regulatory
orientation.
In medieval India, the Mughals set up their own civil service
systems which centred on the management of land revenue, administration
of government factories and establishment of the patrimonial state.
The British civil service came on the Indian scene after the takeover of the
East India Company in the 1860s.
Initially the British civil service was a part of a police state, with the major
task being that of carrying out law and order functions. It was separated as
the different provinces had different civil services.
During the period of Warren Hastings, the institution of the collector was
created in 1772.
Lord Cornwallis is known as the father of civil services in India. He
reformed and organised civil services. He separated revenue administration
from judicial administration. The collector was made head of revenue
administration of the district.
Charter Act of 1853 provided for open competition to civil services. But the
Indian Civil Service was divided into covenant and non-covenant with Indians
being restricted to non-covenant posts of lower bureaucracy only.
In 1854, on the recommendations Macaulay’s report, Civil Services
Commission was set up to recruit civil servants. Initially examination was
conducted only in London with minimum and maximum age being 18 and 23
years respectively.
Satyendranath Tagore became first Indian to become a civil servant in 1864.
Aitchinson Commission (1886) recommended the division of services into
three groups – Imperial, Provincial and Subordinate.
The recruiting and controlling authority of Imperial services was
the ‘Secretary of State’ and for provincial services, it was states.
The British government setup Indian Civil Service in 1911, primarily with the
objective of strengthening British administration.
From 1922 onwards, examination was conducted in India as well. First in
Allahabad and then in Delhi with setting up of Federal Public Service
Commission.
The Government of India Act 1919 divided the Imperial Services into All
India Services and Central Services. The central services were concerned
with matters under the direct control of the Central Government.
This Act also provided for the establishment of Public Services Commission in
India. But it was established in 1926 after recommendations of Lee
Commission.
Further, the Government of India Act, 1935 envisaged a Public Service
Commission for the Federation and a Provincial Public Service Commission
for each Province or group of Provinces.
The Indian civil service was set apart from other imperial services for manning
top civil posts under a rigid hierarchy of a bureaucratic system which Lloyd
George termed as the “Steel Frame” of the British Raj.
Civil Services After Independence:
In 1947, free-India inherited the Indian Civil Service (ICS). After prolonged
consideration, its Constituent Assembly decided to continue to run the Indian
Administration with the help of the Indian Civil Service.
After independence the Indian Civil Service was reorganised as a two-tier
system. The central government controlled the All-India Services (AIS),
namely, the Indian Administrative Service (lAS), the Indian Foreign Service
(IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the central services which were
classified as Group A, B, C, and D services. The selections to the All India
Services and Group A and B services are conducted by the Union Public
Service Commission (UPSC).
The All–India Services (AIS) are a unique feature of federal polity. It is the
view of any constitutional experts that the Constitution though federal form is
unitary in substance.
The AIS scheme is a part of this general plan of making the Centre
strong in the overall constitutional arrangements.
The civil servants have always played a pivotal role in ensuring continuity
and change in administration. However, they are dictated by the rules and
procedures which are formulated taking their advice into account.
It is the ‘rule of law’ rather than the ‘rule of man’ that is often blamed for
widespread abuse of power and corruption among government officials.
The explosion of media in the recent past has opened civil servants to
external scrutiny and called for transparent accountability mechanisms in
terms of outcomes and results not processes.
The issues of accountability of civil servants in service delivery have
come to the forefront in all dialogues regarding civil service reforms.
The credibility of civil service lies in the conspicuous improvement of
tangible services to the people, especially at the cutting edge.
Conceptually, the civil servants are accountable to the minister in charge of
the department, but in practice, the accountability is vague and of a
generalised nature.
Since there is no system of ex ante specification of accountability the
relationship between the minister and the civil servants is only issue-sensitive.
The civil servants deal with the minister as the issues present themselves.
The accountability relationship can be anything from all-pervasive
to minimalistic and it is left to the incumbent minister to interpret it in a
manner that is most convenient to him.
Cadre literally means a small group of trained people who form basic unit of a
military, political or business organisation.
In All India Services, once selected, candidates are assigned cadres based on
their preferences, merit and availability of positions.
In India, each state is a cadre with some exceptions like AGMUT and
DANICS. These are joint state cadres with multiple states.
Civil Services in India has been constitutionally designed in way that it maintains all
India character and ‘outsiders’ are posted in state cadre. ‘Outsiders’ to state cadre
would ensure a higher level of objectivity and neutrality in a system which was likely
to face enormous regional and local pressure. But in the 1980s and 90s,
partisanship, local considerations and nepotism crept into the system.
In the new policy, aimed at “national integration”, divides the 26 states into 5
zonal cadres.
Zone-I – AGMUT, Jammu, and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,
Punjab, Rajasthan, and Haryana
Zone-II – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha
Zone-III – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
Zone-IV – West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam-Meghalaya. Manipur, Tripura
Zone-V – Telangana. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
Candidates have to give cadre choices in descending order of preference
from among the various zones. Candidates can only select one state/cadre
from a zone as their first choice.
Their next choice has to be from a different zone. It is only after selecting first
choice in all the zones, one can select the second state/cadre from the first
zone.
Earlier the candidates used to choose their home state as their first choice
and neighbouring states as their subsequent preferences.
Way Ahead
The New Cadre Policy (2017) looks to resolve these issues. The new
policy is aimed at ensuring ‘national integration’ in the country’s top
bureaucracy.
The new policy will seek to ensure that officers from Bihar, for instance, will
get to work in southern and north- eastern states, which may not be their
preferred cadres.
All India Services officers are supposed to have varied experience which can
be earned if they work in different states
Lateral Entry: Also, the recent move by the government to directly recruit
experts for specialised position is a welcome move and in accordance with
the recommendation of 2nd
Reduction in size of cadres: The proliferation of inconsequential posts is a
proximate cause of both demoralisation and the ability to use transfer as a
penalty. Therefore, the size of cadres should be reduced after periodic
reviews.
India inherited Weberian model of bureaucracy from the British. The Indian civil
service system is rank-based and does not follow the tenets of the position based
civil services. This has led to the absence of a specialised civil service system in
India. Thus, main issues associated with civil services in India can be summarized
as:
All these issues create a conflict between civil services and democracy in
following ways:
The AIS are as much necessary today as they were when the Constitution
was framed.
The AIS should be further strengthened and greater emphasis laid on the
role expected to be played by them. This can be achieved through well-
planned improvements in selection, training, deployment, development and
promotion policies and methods.
Greater specialisation in one or more areas of public administration.
Every AIS officer, whether be is a direct recruit or a promoted officer, should
be required to put in a minimum period under the Union Government and, for
this purpose, the minimum number of spells of Union deputation should be
laid down for direct recruits and promoted officers, separately.
The Union Government may persuade the State Governments to agree to the
constitution of the Indian Service of Engineers, the Indian Medical and Health
Service and an AIS for Education.
Emphasize Performance
The 2nd ARC identified 12 domains in which officers should specialize such
as general administration, urban development, security, rural Development
etc. It has recommended that domain should be assigned to all the officers of
the All India Services and Central Civil Services on completion of 13 years
of service and vacancies at the level of Deputy Secretary/ Director should be
filled only after matching the domain competence of the officer for the job.
The Commission has suggested introduction of competition for senior
positions in the Senior Administrative Grade and above (Joint Secretary level)
by opening these positions to all the Services.
For Higher Administrative Grade posts (Additional Secretary and above)
recruitment for some of the posts could be done from open market.
It has further suggested constitution of a statutory Central Civil Services
Authority which should deal with matters of assignment of domain, preparing
panel for posting of officers at different levels, fixing tenures and determining
which posts should be advertised for lateral entry.
Effective Disciplinary Regime
The 2nd ARC has observed that legal protection given has created a climate
of excessive security without fear of penalty for incompetence and wrong
doing.
In the proposed Civil Services law, the minimum statutory disciplinary and
dismissal procedures required to satisfy the criteria of natural justice should
be spelt out leaving the details of the procedure to be followed to the
respective government departments.
The present oral inquiry process should be converted into a disciplinary
meeting or interview to be conducted by a superior officer in a summary
manner without the trappings and procedures borrowed from court trials.
No penalty of removal and dismissal should be imposed, except by an
Authority, which is at least three levels above the post which the government
servant is holding.
No penalty may be imposed, unless an inquiry is conducted and the accused
government servant has been given an opportunity of being heard.
The two-stage consultation with the CVC in cases involving a vigilance
angle should be done away with and only the second stage advice after
completion of the disciplinary process should be obtained.
Consultation with the UPSC should be mandatory only in cases leading to
the proposed dismissal of government servants and all other types of
disciplinary cases should be exempted from the UPSC’s purview.
Most government departments suffer from poor work culture and low productivity. In
order to provide cost-effective efficient services, following measures can be taken:
The revolution in information technology has brought into focus its adoption
for good governance.
E-governance can reduce distances to nothing, linking remote villages to
government offices in the cities, can reduce staff, cut costs, check leaks in the
governing system, and can make the citizen-government interaction smooth,
without queues and the tyranny of clerks.
But it must be remembered that e-governance is only a tool for good
governance. It cannot succeed independent or responsive officers and it has
to be owned by the political leadership.
Stability of Tenure
A fixed tenure of at least three years for an officer of the higher civil service
along with annual performance targets.
A Civil Services Act has to be enacted to make the Civil Services Board /
Establishment Board both in the states and in the Government of India
statutory in character.
If a Chief Minister does not agree with the recommendations of the Civil
Services Board/Establishment Board, he will have to record his reasons in
writing.
An officer transferred before his normal tenure even under orders of the Chief
Minister can present the matter before a three-member Ombudsman.
In all such premature transfers the Ombudsman shall send a report to the
Governor of the state, who shall cause it to be laid in an Annual Report before
the State Legislature.
Depoliticization of Civil Services
Officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), other All India Services
and other civil servants were not bound to follow oral directives, since they
“undermine credibility”. All actions must be taken by them on the basis of
written communication.
Establishment of a Civil Services Board (CSB), headed by the Cabinet
Secretary at the national level and chief secretaries at the state level, to
recommend transfers and postings of All India Services (IAS, IFS and IPS)
officers. Their views could be overruled by the political executive, but by
recording reasons only.
Parliament to enact a Civil Services Act under Article 309 of the Constitution
setting up a CSB
There should be fixed minimum tenure.
Group ‘B’ officers would be transferred by heads of departments (HoDs).
No interference of ministers, other than the chief minister, in transfers or
postings of civil servants.
Shortage of Officers
Specialists and domain experts
Burden to Exchequer
Incentives to innovations and out of the box thinking
To induce Competition
Issues with Lateral Entry
Way Ahead
It’ll update the knowledge and efficiency in work base of the participant in the
rapidly changing environment.
Will help to develop competencies for changes in the job profile, as would
happen when a promotion takes place.
Can also serve as a medium for enhancing formal qualifications, thereby
creating greater confidence in an officer.
Good hardworking civil servants will get rewarded
Clear performance standard shall be fixed.
Reduction in political interference due to fixed targets and continuous
reports of performance of civil servants.
It would compel bureaucrats to put more diligence to score a better review.
Induce professionalism in the departments.
Weeding out of the inefficient lot would make place for better candidates.
Compulsory Retirements
Conclusion:
Compulsory retirement is a desirable approach as the efficacy of a system is
determined by the set of incentives facing people who exercise power. As
bureaucrats continue to wield enormous power, a guaranteed job provides the wrong
incentives. Hence the mid-term appraisal and compulsory retirement might be the
much needed bureaucratic reforms in India.
A 360 degree system of appraisal has been passed by the government for
empanelment of senior level officers in the Government of India. This system
involves a multi-source feedback from various stakeholders in the government
such as seniors, peers and juniors.
The empanelment process also takes into account the overall service record
of the individual, the vigilance status and the suitability of the officers
concerned.
The government first introduced this system in April 2015 as a supplement to
the existing Annual Confidential Report (ACR) system.
Karmayogi Yojana:
iGOT: