The Central Staffing Scheme (CSS)
has been in operation for more than 50 years in India. This Scheme provides a
systematic arrangement for the selection and appointment of officers to senior
administrative posts in the Government of India. It is one of the modes through which
appointments to the posts of the rank of Under Secretary and above in the
Government of India are made. Before analyzing
the Central Staffing Scheme, it is imperative on my part to briefly discuss
about the administrative structure of the Government of India and the various
modes of recruitment of personnel to man the posts/offices under it.
Administrative
Structure of the Government of India:
The constitutional
head of the Executive of the Union of India is the President. Article 74(1) of
the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the
Prime Minister as its head to aid and advice the President, who shall exercise
his/her functions in accordance with the said advice. The real executive power
is thus vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its
head. The Government of India is divided
into various Ministries and Departments. The work of the Government of India is
distributed among the various Ministries and Departments by the Government
of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961. For
convenient transaction of this business of the Government of India, the Government
of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 were passed. The Cabinet
Secretariat is responsible for the administration of both these Rules
facilitating smooth transaction of business in Ministries/Departments of the
Government of India by ensuring adherence to these Rules. The Cabinet Secretariat is under the
direct charge of the Prime Minister. The administrative head of the Secretariat
is the Cabinet Secretary. The Cabinet
Secretary is the senior-most civil servant and also the head of the Indian
Civil Service. The Cabinet Secretary is mandatorily
drawn from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The Transaction of Business Rules provided
for the constitution of Standing Committees of the Cabinet for performing
certain functions of the Government of India. These Standing Committees contain
such Ministers as the Prime Minister may, from time to time, specify. The
Appointments Committee of Cabinet is one such Standing Committee, which is
responsible for taking various decisions like appointments, empanelments,
extension of tenures, transfers, re-employment of officers, etc. of certain categories and rank/pay.
The work of the Government of India is distributed into
different Ministries/Departments. A
Department is responsible for formulation of policies of the government in
relation to business allotted to it and also for the execution and review of
those policies. For efficient disposal
of business allotted to it, a Department is divided into administrative units
called Wings, Divisions, Branches and Sections. The functions of the various
functionaries of a Department may be summarized as follows:
S.No.
|
Administrative Unit
|
Administrative Head
|
Functions
|
1
|
Department
|
Secretary
|
A
Secretary is the administrative head of the Ministry or Department. He is the principal adviser of the Minister
on all matters of policy and administration within his Ministry/Department.
|
2
|
Wing
|
Special Secretary/
Additional
Secretary/
Joint
Secretary
|
When the
volume of work in a Ministry exceeds the manageable charge of a Secretary,
one or more wings may be established with Special Secretary /Additional
Secretary/Joint Secretary, incharge of each wing. Such a functionary is
entrusted with the maximum measure of independent functioning and
responsibility in respect of all business falling within his wing subject.
|
3
|
Division
|
Director/
Deputy Secretary
|
Director/Deputy
Secretary is an officer who acts on behalf of the Secretary. He holds charge
of a Secretariat Division and is responsible for the disposal of Government
business dealt within the Division under his charge. He should ordinarily be
able to dispose of the majority of cases coming up to him on his own.
|
4
|
Branch
|
Under Secretary
|
An Under
Secretary is incharge of the Branch in a Ministry consisting of two or more
Sections and in respect thereto exercises control both in regard to the
despatch of business and maintenance of discipline. Work comes to him from
the Sections under his charge. As Branch Officer he disposes of as many cases
as possible at his own level but he takes the orders of the Deputy Secretary
or higher officers on important cases.
|
5
|
Section
|
Section Officer
|
A
section is generally the lowest organizational unit in a Department with a
well-defined area of work. It normally consists of Assistants and Clerks
supervised by a Section Officer. Initial handling of cases (including noting
and drafting) is generally done by Assistants and Clerks who are also known
as the dealing hands.
|
Each
Department may have one or more Attached or Subordinate Offices. Where the
execution of the policies of the government requires decentralization of
executive action and/or direction, a Department may have under it executive
agencies called ‘Attached’ and ‘Subordinate’ offices. Attached Offices are
generally responsible for providing executive direction required in the
implementation of the policies laid down by the Department to which they are
attached. They also serve as repository of technical information and advise the
department on technical aspects. For instance, the Directorate General of
Foreign Trade (DGFT) is an attached office of the Department of Commerce. Subordinate
Offices generally function as field establishments or as agencies responsible
for the detailed execution of the policies of the government. They function
under the direction of an Attached Office, or where the volume of executive
direction involved is not considerable, directly under a Department. In the
latter case, they assist the Departments concerned in handling technical
matters in their respective fields of specialization. Besides, the attached and
subordinate offices there are a large number of other organizations under the
Government of India, which carry out different functions assigned to them.
These may be categorized as follows:
1) Constitutional Bodies:
Such bodies which are constituted under the provisions of the Constitution of
India. Eg: CAG, Election Commission of
India, etc.
2) Statutory Bodies:
Such bodies which are established under the statute or an Act of Parliament.
Eg: RBI, SEBI, IRDA, FMS, PFRDA, etc.
3) Autonomous Bodies:
Such bodies which are established by the Government to discharge the activities
which are related to governmental functions. Although such bodies are given
autonomy to discharge their functions in accordance with the Memorandum of
Associations etc., but the Government’s control exists since these are funded
by the Government of India. Eg: National Productivity Council (NPC), Indian
Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), etc.
4) Public Sector Undertakings:
Public Sector Undertaking is that part of the industry which is controlled
fully or partly by the Government. These undertakings have been set up in the
form of companies or corporations in which the shares are held by the President
or his nominees and which are managed by Board of Directors which includes
officials and non-officials. Eg: Air India, BSNL, FCI, etc.
Recruitment
of Personnel:
The personnel manning the various posts under the
Government of India are recruited through various modes. These modes can be summarized as follows:
1) Central Staffing Scheme –
It provides a systematic arrangement for the selection and appointment of
officers to senior administrative posts in the Central Government, excluding
the posts which are specifically encadred with the organized Group ‘A’ services
or filled by recruitment through the UPSC.
Appointments to all other posts of the rank of Under Secretary and above
in the Government of India are filled under the Central Staffing Scheme by
borrowing officers from the All India Services and participating Group ‘A’
services. All officers who are so
borrowed will serve the Government of India for a stipulated tenure on
deputation and thereafter return to their parent cadre. Their growth, development and career
prospects will be mainly in their own Service.
The raison d’être of such a scheme is the Centre’s need for fresh inputs
at senior levels in policy planning, formulation of policy and implementation
of programmes from diverse sources viz.
the All India Services and the participating organized Group ‘A’ services. The services of scientific and technical
personnel and professionals in the field of economics, statistics, law and
medicine are similarly obtained, whereby they serve for specified periods on
deputation and return to their respective cadres at the end of the tenure. This two-way movement is of mutual benefit to
the service cadres and the Government of India.
The bulk of the posts under the Government of India in the Central
Secretariat are filled through the Central Staffing Scheme.
2) Recruitment through UPSC –
Some posts under the Central Government are filled by the Union Public Service
Commission (UPSC) directly.
3) Posts Encadred to Specialized Group
‘A’ Services – Some posts in the Union Government are
specifically encadred to the specialized Group ‘A’ Services. These posts are to be filled only by officers
belonging to that particular Service. For instance, the Foreign Secretary is
always an IFS officer, the Chairman and Members of the Central Board of Direct
Taxes (CBDT) are IRS officers, the Chairman and Members of the Railway Board
are to be drawn from railway services like IRTS, IRAS, IRPS, IRSME, IRSEE,
IRSE; Secretary (Posts) is always an IPoS officer, the Directors of CBI, IB and
R&AW are IPS officers, etc.
4) Posts Encadred to Central Secretariat
Service – Some posts of Director, Deputy Secretary and Under
Secretary are encadred to the Central Secretariat Service. These posts are filled only by the Central
Secretariat Service officers in accordance with the rules of the Central
Staffing Scheme but stand outside the Central Staffing Scheme.
5) Foreign Service Appointments –
Appointment of members of Indian Foreign Service to posts included in the
Foreign Service Cadre are made on the recommendations of the Foreign Service Board
comprising IFS Officers.
6) Appointments by Railway Board –
Appointment to posts under the control of the Ministry of Railways are made on
the advice of the Railway Board.
7) Services Selection Board Procedure –
Appointments to posts under the control of the Ministry of Defence other than
civil posts are made on the advice of the Services Selection Board or other
specified authorities.
8) Statutory Appointments by the
President of India – Statutory appointments to be made by the
President of India will be in accordance with the provisions of the
Constitution.
9) Appointments
of Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Heads of Missions or High Dignitaries under
the aegis of the Ministry of External Affairs will be as per the prescribed
procedure.
Central
Staffing Scheme:
The
idea behind the Central Staffing Scheme is the Central Government’s need for
fresh inputs at middle/senior levels in the formulation of policy and
implementation/monitoring of various programmes. The officers are drawn from diverse sources
for a specified period on deputation.
This two-way movement is of mutual benefit to the service cadres and the
Government of India. A total of 37
Services are included in the Central Staffing Scheme. An attempt has been made here to study and
find out whether the Central Staffing Scheme is working on the lines planned
and whether the Central Government and thereby the country is benefitting from
this Scheme of personnel administration.
The
complete lists of Secretaries, Special Secretaries, Secretary Equivalents,
Additional Secretaries, Additional Secretary Equivalents, Joint Secretaries and
Joint Secretary Equivalents to the Government of India that were available on
the website of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions were critically
analyzed. The following disturbing inferences
were drawn:
1.
The list of Secretaries, Special
Secretaries & Secretary Equivalents (as on 12/02/2014) that is available on
the website of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
contained names of 128 officers belonging to various Services. These posts carry
the basic pay of Rs.80,000 (fixed) (Apex Scale). The Services represented along
with the number of officers in these Secretary level appointments are
summarized below:
S.No.
|
Name of the Service
|
Number of Officers from the
Service Represented
|
Percentage of Posts Occupied by
Officers belonging to the Service
|
1
|
Indian
Administrative Service (IAS)
|
95
|
74.22%
|
2
|
Indian
Police Service (IPS)
|
11
|
8.59%
|
3
|
Scientists
|
8
|
6.25%
|
4
|
Indian
Legal Service (ILS)
|
4
|
3.13%
|
5
|
Economists
|
3
|
2.34%
|
6
|
Indian
Foreign Service (IFS)
|
2
|
1.56%
|
7
|
Indian
Forest Service (IFoS)
|
1
|
0.78%
|
8
|
Indian
Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)
|
1
|
0.78%
|
9
|
Indian
Information Service (IIS)
|
1
|
0.78%
|
10
|
Doctors
|
1
|
0.78%
|
11
|
Indian
Postal Service (IPoS)
|
1
|
0.78%
|
Total
|
128
|
100%
|
It
is to be noted that the Indian Legal Service (ILS), Scientists, Economists
& Doctors mentioned in the above table are not among the 37 Services
eligible to be considered under the Central Staffing Scheme. So, only 7 Services out of 37 eligible
Services are actually represented at the Secretary level appointments in the
Government of India. Services with large
cadres like Indian Revenue Service (with cadre strength as large as that of
IAS) were not represented at all. The
one Secretary level post occupied by the IPoS is that of Secretary(Posts),
which is an encadred post of the IPoS.
The one Secretary level post occupied by the IDAS is that of Secretary(Defence
Finance), which is an encadred post of the IDAS. The one Secretary level post occupied by the
IIS is that of the Secretary to the President of India, which occurs rarely. The one Secretary level post occupied by the
IFoS is that of Director General of Forests and Special Secretary, which is
again an encadred post of IFoS. 10 out
of the 11 Secretary level posts occupied by the IPS are those encadred to
IPS. So, in effect, only 3 Services out
of 37 eligible Services (i.e. only
8.11% of the eligible Services) are represented at the Secretary level posts
filled through the Central Staffing Scheme.
Even out of these 3 Services, IFS occupied only 2 posts and IPS only 1
post at the Secretary level, which are not encadred to them. The 2 posts occupied by IFS are those of
Secretary to the Vice-President of India and the Deputy National Security
Adviser, which can also be considered as occurring rarely. So, all most all the Secretary level posts
filled under the Central Staffing Scheme are occupied by IAS officers.
2. The list of Additional Secretaries
& Additional Secretary Equivalents that is available on the website of the
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions contained names of 118
officers belonging to various Services. These posts carry the pay scale of
Rs.67,000-(annual increment @ 3%) – 79,000 (HAG Scale) or Rs.75,500-(annual
increment @ 3%) – 80,000 (HAG+ Scale).
The Services represented along with the number of officers in these Additional
Secretary level appointments are summarized below:
S.No.
|
Name of the Service
|
Number of Officers from the
Service Represented
|
Percentage of Posts Occupied by
Officers belonging to the Service
|
1
|
Indian
Administrative Service (IAS)
|
104
|
88.14%
|
2
|
Indian
Audit & Accounts Service (IAAS)
|
4
|
3.39%
|
3
|
Indian
Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)
|
4
|
3.39%
|
4
|
Indian
Police Service (IPS)
|
2
|
1.69%
|
5
|
Indian
Forest Service (IFoS)
|
1
|
0.85%
|
6
|
Indian
Revenue Service (C&CE)
|
1
|
0.85%
|
7
|
Indian P&T
Accounts & Finance Service (IPTAFS)
|
1
|
0.85%
|
8
|
Indian
Cost Accounts Service
|
1
|
0.85%
|
Total
|
118
|
100%
|
The
2 posts occupied by IPS are those of Additional Directors of CBI, which are the
cadre posts of IPS. Services with large
cadres like Indian Revenue Service (IT) (with cadre strength as large as that
of IAS) were not represented at all at the Additional Secretary level posts
under the Government of India. So, in
effect, only 7 Services out of 37 eligible Services (i.e. only 18.92% of the eligible Services) are represented at the
Additional Secretary level posts filled through the Central Staffing
Scheme. Here also almost all the posts
are cornered by the IAS. The invasion by
the IAS at this level is more pronounced than that at the Secretary level
appointments.
3. The list of Joint Secretaries &
Joint Secretary Equivalent officers that is available on the website of the
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions contained names of 535
officers belonging to various Services. These posts carry the pay scale of
Rs.37,400-67,000 with Grade Pay of Rs.10,000 (SAG Scale). The Services represented along with the
number of officers in these Joint Secretary level appointments are summarized
below:
S.No.
|
Name of the Service
|
Number of Officers from the
Service Represented
|
Percentage of Posts Occupied by
Officers belonging to the Service
|
1
|
Indian
Administrative Service (IAS)
|
345
|
64.49%
|
2
|
Indian
Police Service (IPS)
|
33
|
6.17%
|
3
|
Indian
Forest Service (IFoS)
|
24
|
4.49%
|
4
|
Indian
Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)
|
24
|
4.49%
|
5
|
Indian
Audit & Accounts Service (IAAS)
|
23
|
4.30%
|
6
|
Central
Secretariat Service (CSS)
|
15
|
2.80%
|
7
|
Indian
Revenue Service (IT)
|
10
|
1.87%
|
8
|
Indian
Postal Service (IPoS)
|
9
|
1.68%
|
9
|
Indian
Information Service (IIS)
|
7
|
1.31%
|
10
|
Indian
Railway Personnel Service (IRPS)
|
7
|
1.31%
|
11
|
Indian
Foreign Service (IFS)
|
7
|
1.31%
|
12
|
Indian
Economic Service (IES)
|
5
|
0.93%
|
13
|
Indian
Railway Accounts Service (IRAS)
|
5
|
0.93%
|
14
|
Indian
Civil Accounts Service (ICAS)
|
5
|
0.93%
|
15
|
Indian
Revenue Service (C&CE)
|
4
|
0.75%
|
16
|
Indian
Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE)
|
3
|
0.56%
|
17
|
Indian
Ordnance Factory Service (IOFS)
|
2
|
0.37%
|
18
|
Indian
Defence Estates Service (IDES)
|
2
|
0.37%
|
19
|
Indian
P&T Accounts & Finance Service (IPTAFS)
|
1
|
0.19%
|
20
|
Indian
Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)
|
1
|
0.19%
|
21
|
Indian
Trade Service (ITS)
|
1
|
0.19%
|
22
|
Indian
Telecom Service
|
1
|
0.19%
|
23
|
Indian
Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE)
|
1
|
0.19%
|
Total
|
535
|
100%
|
Even
at the Joint Secretary level appointments, IAS officers occupied the bulk of
the posts. The 15 posts occupied by the
Central Secretariat Service are their cadre posts and the Central Secretariat
Service is not included in the 37 eligible Services for the Central Staffing
Scheme. Therefore, as can be seen from the above table, only 22 Services out of
37 eligible Services (i.e. only
59.46% of the eligible Services) are represented at the Joint Secretary level
posts filled through the Central Staffing Scheme.
It can be seen from the above
observations that the Central Staffing Scheme had not achieved the
objectives
set out for it in the first place. Only
one Service i.e. the IAS has been occupying bulk of the posts filled
through
this Scheme and only very few Services are being represented in the
Central
Staffing Scheme posts. The very idea
behind the Scheme of attracting fresh inputs at middle/senior levels in
the
formulation of policy from diverse sources has been defeated
completely. The cardinal principle of the Central
Staffing Scheme is that all officers who are borrowed will serve the
Government
of India for a stipulated tenure on deputation and thereafter return
back to
the parent cadre. The growth,
development and career prospects of these officers will mainly be in
their own
Service. But the working of this Scheme
reveals that the growth, development and career prospects of IAS
officers are
being furthered by the Central Staffing Scheme at the cost and to the
detriment
of the other Services and the country in general. The Central Staffing
Scheme is promoting caste system in bureaucracy by promoting one caste
(read IAS) over other castes (read Services). The caste system has no
place in a modern society. An attempt is made here to identify the real
reasons behind the failure of this grand Scheme and the remedies needed
urgently for the Central Secretariat to function with efficiency and
fairness.
Reasons
for Failure of the Central Staffing Scheme:
1. Flawed Process of Empanelment:
It has been the practice to draw a
suitability list (known as panel) of eligible officers from the All-India
Services and Group ‘A’ Services participating in the Central Staffing
Scheme. This process is known as
‘empanelment’. This suitability list/panel
will be utilized for making appointments to posts under the Government of India. However, inclusion in the panel would not
confer any right to such appointment under the Central Government. It has been observed that this very process
of empanelment is the biggest hurdle for non-IAS officers to get appointments
under the Central Staffing Scheme. The empanelment process has become so skewed
that it automatically eliminates the vast majority of the non-IAS officers from
the Central Staffing Scheme at the level of Joint Secretary and above.
For the purpose of empanelment, an Expert Panel will
examine the APARs/ACRs, year-wise in detail, for each batch and will give their
own assessment of the gradings of officers for each year. This
assessment will be taken into account by the Civil Services Board (CSB) for
making recommendations for officers to be included in a Panel. The final approval will be obtained from the
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for empanelment of officers of All
India Services and Organized Group ‘A’ Central Services for holding Secretariat
posts at the level of Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and Secretary in
the Central Government. The ACC will be
assisted and advised by the Civil Services Board. So, in effect the Civil Services Board is the
actual body responsible for preparing the Panels. The composition of the Civil Services Board
is as follows:
S.No.
|
Official
|
Designation
|
Service(s) from which the official
is drawn
|
1
|
Cabinet Secretary
|
Chairman (ex-officio)
|
IAS
|
2
|
Secretary (Personnel)
|
Member (ex-officio)
|
IAS
|
3
|
One Secretary to the Government of
India
(to be appointed for a year at a
time)
|
Member
|
IAS in 90% of the cases
|
4
|
Establishment Officer
|
Member-Secretary (ex-officio)
|
IAS
|
5
|
Secretary of the Administrative
Ministry or Department concerned
|
Co-opted Member
|
IAS in 90% of the cases
|
From
the above table, simple mathematics will reveal that in 96% of the cases all
the five Members of the Civil Services Board are IAS officers and the principles
of probability reveal that in less than 4% of the cases there is a probability
of atleast 2 out of the 5 Members will be non-IAS Members. Even under this 4% probability, the majority
of the Civil Services Board is comprised of IAS officers. This very composition of the CSB dominated by
IAS officers is the real reason for empanelment of IAS officers on a large
scale and elimination of non-IAS officers.
Let us see whether this observation is correct. An analysis of the officers of the All India
and organized Group ‘A’ Central Services who are empanelled to the posts of
Secretary, Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary under the Central Staffing
Scheme reveals the following:
(I) Secretary, Special Secretary & Secretary
Equivalent:
S.No.
|
Name of the Service
|
Junior-most Batch Empanelled for
appointment to Secretary, Special Secretary & Secretary Equivalent at the
Centre
|
Number of Officers of the
Junior-most Batch Empanelled
|
Whether any Officer belonging to the
Service was actually holding any post that is not encadred to his/her Service
|
1
|
Indian
Administrative Service (IAS)
|
1980
|
36
|
Yes
|
2
|
Indian
Revenue Service (IT)
|
1977
|
1
|
No
|
3
|
Indian
Forest Service (IFoS)
|
1977
|
1
|
No
|
4
|
Indian
Railway Accounts Service (IRAS)
|
1977
|
1
|
No
|
5
|
Indian
Postal Service (IPoS)
|
1977
|
1
|
No
|
6
|
Indian
Economic Service (IES)
|
1976
|
1
|
No
|
7
|
Indian
Revenue Service (C&CE)
|
1976
|
1
|
No
|
It is observed that over the last 5 years only officers
belonging to 7 Services have been empanelled for Secretary & Secretary
Equivalent posts under the Central Staffing Scheme. It is also significant that over the past 5
years only around 25 non-IAS officers (from a group of 36 Services) were
empanelled for Secretary & Secretary Equivalent posts but around 200 IAS
officers (from a single Service) were empanelled during the same period. The
junior most batch of IAS empanelled for Secretary & Secretary Equivalent
posts is that of 1980 whereas the 1976 & 1977 batches are the junior most
from the other Services to be empanelled at this level. What is significant is that none of the
officers belonging to the non-IAS from the latest batch to be empanelled was
actually appointed to any post of Secretary & Secretary Equivalent other
than to the encadred posts. Even
officially, a 2-year difference is maintained between IAS and non-IAS officers
while empanelling for appointment to the posts of Secretary and Additional
Secretary/Equivalent at the centre. God
only knows why this discrimination even at official level.
(II) Additional Secretary & Additional Secretary
Equivalent:
S.No.
|
Name of the Service
|
Junior-most Batch Empanelled for
appointment to Additional Secretary & Additional Secretary Equivalent at
the Centre
|
Number of Officers of the
Junior-most Batch Empanelled
|
Whether any Officer belonging to
the Junior-most empanelled batch was actually holding any post that is not
encadred to his/her Service
|
1
|
Indian
Administrative Service (IAS)
|
1983
|
57
|
Yes
|
2
|
Indian
Economic Service (IES)
|
1979
|
2
|
No
|
3
|
Indian Revenue
Service (C&CE)
|
1980
|
3
|
Yes
|
4
|
Indian
P&T Accounts & Finance Service (IPTAFS)
|
1979
|
1
|
No
|
5
|
Indian
Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)
|
1981
|
1
|
No
|
6
|
Indian
Defence Estates Service (IDES)
|
1978
|
1
|
No
|
7
|
Indian
Revenue Service (IT)
|
1979
|
1
|
No
|
8
|
Indian
Postal Service (IPoS)
|
1981
|
2
|
No
|
9
|
Indian
Audit & Accounts Service (IAAS)
|
1981
|
4
|
Yes
|
10
|
Indian
Forest Service (IFoS)
|
1981
|
2
|
Yes
|
It
is observed that over the last 5 years only officers belonging to 10 Services
have been empanelled for Additional Secretary & Additional Secretary
Equivalent posts under the Central Staffing Scheme. The junior most batch of IAS empanelled for
Additional Secretary & Additional Secretary Equivalent posts is that of
1983 whereas the 1979, 1980 & 1981 batches are the junior most from the
other Services that are empanelled at this level. The representation from the
non-IAS Services is also meager in the Panels prepared. Most of the non-IAS are not actually
appointed to any Additional Secretary level posts under the Central Staffing
Scheme even though they were empanelled.
It can also be seen from the above tables that when 1980 batch of IAS
was empanelled for Secretary level posts, the senior batches of 1979 belonging
to non-IAS Services were empanelled for Additional Secretary level posts. So, even if actually appointed, these
non-IAS officers will work under the IAS officers belonging to their junior
batches i.e. a senior works under his
junior. This is the height of ridiculousness with which empanelment process is
being taken up under the Central Staffing Scheme. The IAS officers are simply marching over the
other Services in violation of all norms of fairness and equity.
(III) Joint Secretary & Joint Secretary
Equivalent:
S.No.
|
Name of the Service
|
Junior-most Batch Empanelled for
appointment to Joint Secretary & Joint Secretary Equivalent at the Centre
|
Number of Officers of the
Junior-most Batch Empanelled
|
1
|
Indian
Administrative Service (IAS)
|
1995
|
61 (Initial)
|
2
|
Indian
Economic Service (IES)
|
1986
|
6
|
3
|
Indian
Revenue Service (C&CE)
|
1985
|
3
|
4
|
Indian
P&T Accounts & Finance Service (IPTAFS)
|
1989
|
1
|
5
|
Indian
Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)
|
1988
|
1
|
6
|
Indian
Defence Estates Service (IDES)
|
1984
|
4
|
7
|
Indian
Revenue Service (IT)
|
1986
|
37
|
8
|
Indian
Postal Service (IPoS)
|
1988
|
8
|
9
|
Indian
Audit & Accounts Service (IAAS)
|
1991
|
14
|
10
|
Indian
Forest Service (IFoS)
|
1987
|
47
|
11
|
Indian
Trade Service (ITS)
|
1986
|
1
|
12
|
Indian
Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME)
|
1983
|
12
|
13
|
Indian
Police Service (IPS)
|
1988
|
7
|
14
|
Indian
Ordnance Factory Service (IOFS)
|
1985
|
21
|
15
|
Indian
Information Service (IIS)
|
1985
|
1
|
16
|
Indian
Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)
|
1986
|
25
|
17
|
Indian
Railway Personnel Service (IRPS)
|
1985
|
1
|
18
|
Indian
Civil Accounts Service (ICAS)
|
1988
|
3
|
19
|
Indian Telecom
Service
|
1982
|
35
|
20
|
Indian
Foreign Service (IFS)
|
1995
|
-
|
The empanelment for posts at the level of Joint
Secretary & Joint Secretary Equivalent is a thesis on inequality,
unfairness, hegemony, greed and injustice.
The 1995 batches of IAS and IFS were already empanelled for appointment
to posts of Joint Secretary & Joint Secretary Equivalent under the Central
Staffing Scheme. The next nearest batch
of any Service to be empanelled was that of the 1991 batch of Indian Audit
& Accounts Service (IAAS). The
junior most batches of IRS(IT), IES, IRTS and ITS to be empanelled to the posts
of Joint Secretary & Joint Secretary Equivalent were those of 1986. The 1982 batch of Indian Telecom Service,
1983 batch of IRSME, 1984 batch of IDES, 1985 batches of IOFS, IIS, IRPS and
IRS(C&CE) were the junior most batches so far empanelled to posts of Joint
Secretary & Joint Secretary Equivalent.
So, it is very clear that non-IAS officers are simply trampled by the
IAS lobby when it comes to appointments under the Central Staffing Scheme
through the highly skewed process of empanelment.
2. Civil
Services Board Procedure for Appointments:
For
staffing posts of the rank of Deputy Secretary, Director and Joint Secretary in
the Ministries/Departments of the Government of India, the Appointments
Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) is assisted and advised by the Civil Services
Board (CSB). The functions of the CSB
include:
a)
To make recommendations for appointments to
the posts of Deputy Secretary, Director and Joint Secretary under the Central
Staffing Scheme (CSS).
b)
To make recommendations for appointments of
All India Services and Group ‘A’ Central Services to some non-CSS posts like
posts of Constitutional bodies & statutory bodies, etc.
c)
To make recommendations for appointments to
foreign posts in Indian Missions abroad under the administrative control of the
Ministries of Finance, Commerce, etc.
(other than Ministry of External Affairs).
d)
To make recommendations for appointments to
captive posts of Government of India in international organizations like EDs in
World Bank, IMF, ADB, etc.
e) To
draw the panels for Joint Secretary level posts under the Central Government
(empanelment process).
The Establishment Officer & Additional Secretary to
the Government of India, who is an IAS officer, is the ex-officio
Member-Secretary to the Civil Services Board and ex-officio Secretary to the
Appointments Committee of Cabinet. The Civil
Services Board prepares a panel of three officers from the lists of officers of
various Services empanelled to posts of Deputy Secretary, Director and Joint
Secretary for making actual appointments to posts under the Government of
India. This panel of three names will be
forwarded to the Minister-in-charge for his selection. The name of the officer selected by the
Minister-in-charge will be forwarded to the ACC for approval. The CSB inturn relies on the Committee of
Secretaries (CoS) for preparing this panel of three names for appointments to
posts of Deputy Secretary, Director and Joint Secretary. This Committee of
Secretaries is again comprised of IAS officers.
It is anybody’s guess as to why only IAS officers are actually appointed
to senior posts even though non-IAS officers are also empanelled. The appointments process by the CSB is the
second level of elimination for non-IAS officers. In the first place it is very
difficult to get empanelled and in the second place it is next to impossible to
actually get appointed to senior posts under the Government of India for the
non-IAS officers.
For
the posts of Additional Secretary and above the empanelment and actual
appointment is done by the Cabinet Secretary directly. In this function of the Cabinet Secretary,
he/she is assisted by a Special Committee of Secretaries (SCoS), which consists
of senior IAS officers. Here again it is
the IAS officers who undertake the empanelment process, make recommendations
for appointments and make the actual appointments. No wonder then that 74.22%
of Secretary level posts and 88.14% of Additional Secretary level posts under
the Government of India are occupied by the IAS officers themselves.
3. Delay in submission of updated
APARs/ACRs:
One of the reasons given for delay
in the empanelment of All India and organized Group ‘A’ Central Services for
posts at the level of Secretary, Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary to
the Government of India is the delay in submission of updated APARs/ACRs for
consideration. During the empanelment
process, the panels of suitable officers are drawn upon an annual basis
considering all officers of a particular year of allotment from one Service
together as a group. It is really
difficult to consider large Services like IAS, IRS(IT), IPS and IRS(C&CE)
for empanelment as completed APARs of around 100-150 officers in a batch have
to be obtained. It is a cumbersome and
long drawn process. But the real
question is if it can be done for IAS why not for others? What about the delay in case of Services with
very small cadre size like IDAS, IDES, IIS, ITS, IFoS, etc.? So, there are some deliberate
manmade procedural bottlenecks which actually hamper the timely empanelment of
non-IAS officers which only the Establishment Officer or Secretary (Personnel)
can explain.
Suggestions for a Dynamic
Personnel Administration:
1. The
empanelment process for appointments to the posts of Secretary, Additional
Secretary and Joint Secretary to the Government of India has to be completely
scrapped. Every year the vacancies
arising at these levels have to be uploaded on the website of the Ministry of
Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and applications have to be called
for directly from the officers belonging to all the 37 eligible Services. The
applications may be submitted through proper channel by the officers who are
interested in applying for these posts.
Every officer who has already been promoted to the pay Scale of the
Secretary, Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary to the Government of India
in their parent cadre should be made eligible to apply to the respective
vacancies at the centre. This should of
course be subject to the vigilance clearance. As observed earlier in this article, the
empanelment process has become the biggest impediment for the non-IAS officers.
For instance, IRS(IT) officers upto 1992 batch have already been promoted to
Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) grade (Joint Secretary level) in their cadre but
empanelment to the post of Joint Secretary to Government of India could be
completed only upto the 1986 batch. So,
the IRS officers belonging to 1987 to 1992 batch are losing the opportunity to
be appointed to posts of Joint Secretary to Government of India under the
Central Staffing Scheme for no fault of theirs. Had there been no empanelment
process, even officers of 1992 batch of IRS would have been eligible to apply
for Joint Secretary level posts in the Government of India. Similar is the fate of all other organized
Group ‘A’ Central Services. The process
of empanelment is done to check for the eligibility of officers for appointment
to senior level posts under the Government of India and to prepare a panel from
which selection can be made for appointment. So, there is duplication of efforts on the
part of Department of Personnel and Training and creation of two Padmavyuhas/Chakravyuhas
for the non-IAS officers to cross before being appointed to senior level posts
under the Government of India.
2. The
composition of the Civil Services Board, Committee of Secretaries and the
Special Committee of Secretaries should be changed. A rule should be made saying that no two
persons belonging to a single Service shall be made Members of these three
bodies. The Establishment Officer should
only be a Secretary but not Member-Secretary if the incumbent is an IAS
officer. This is required because the
Chairman of CSB is always the Cabinet Secretary, who is an IAS officer. This one measure will bring in a drastic
change in the Central Staffing Scheme.
3. The
2-year difference being maintained between the IAS and non-IAS should be
completely eliminated as it violates the fundamental Right to Equality, which
forms the basic structure of the Constitution of India. No Service is superior to the other and every
Service has its role and importance.
Every Service is created to achieve certain objectives and every Service
should be allowed to function without any prejudice. No person becomes superior
by being part of a particular Service.
It should be noted here that in Civil Services Examination some toppers
are choosing Services other than IAS as their first or second choice. So no superiority should be attributed to
officers belonging to any Service.
4. The difference
in pay scales created after the Sixth Pay Commission between the IAS and
non-IAS Services by the grant of additional increments to IAS & IFS on
promotion to Senior Time Scale, Junior Administrative Grade and Non Functional
Selection Grade should be done away with.
This difference in pay scales between the Services recruited through the
same exam violates the fundamental rights of ‘Right to Equality’ and ‘Equal Pay
for Equal Work’. This also makes no
sense when some higher ranked candidates in the Civil Services Examination are
opting for Services other than IAS & IFS.
There is one argument made by IAS lobby that since candidates who were
allotted Service other than IAS & IFS are allowed to take Civil Services
Examination again with a view to make it to IAS. This loss of service due to repeated attempts
should be compensated by higher pay to IAS & IFS. If that is the case the candidates who were
allotted Services like IRTS, IRPS, ITS, IPoS, IIS, IRS(C&CE) take exam
again and make it to IPS or IRS(IT).
These officers should also be given higher pay by that logic. The fact of the matter is that this logic is
actually highly illogical and promotes inequity and heartburn among non-IAS
officers.
5. Encadrement
of all specialized posts to the relevant specialized Services has to be done
immediately. God only knows how an IAS officer without any relevant educational
qualifications or experience is more suitable to be a Secretary, Ministry of
Environment & Forests than an Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer with
30-35 years of relevant experience in the field. Similarly, it is not clear how an IAS officer
who cannot even file his own return of income is more eligible to be a Revenue
Secretary than an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer with 30-35 years of
relevant experience in the field. As per convention, IAS and IFS alternatively hold the
ambassador's post in Belgium. Who
can explain how an IAS officer is more suitable than an Indian Foreign
Service
(IFS) officer to be an Indian Ambassador to Belgium? Similarly, I am at
a loss to understand how
an IAS officer without any knowledge of accounts and audit is more
suitable to
be a Comptroller and Auditor General of India than an IAAS, IDAS, ICAS,
IPTAFS
or an IRS officer who are experts when it comes to accounts
administration. Even a kid can tell that
an Indian Trade Service (ITS) officer is more suitable to be a Commerce
Secretary and the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) than an IAS
officer. Similarly, an Indian Economic
Service (IES) officer is far more qualified to be appointed as Executive
Director (ED) in World Bank, IMF and ADB than an IAS officer. An IRS
officer is far ahead than an IAS
officer in qualifications and experience to be a Director of Enforcement
Directorate. It is also not difficult to
understand that an Indian Information Service (IIS) officer will make a
better
Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting than an IAS
officer. Similarly what is the qualification of IAS officers to be
appointed as heads of regulatory bodies like RBI, SEBI, CCI, IRDA,
PFRDA, etc? So, there is an urgent need to
identify the posts which should be encadred to the specialized Group ‘A’
Services in the centre. The posts at any
level from Under Secretary to Secretary, which require a specialized background
or experience have to be filled up only by officers belonging to the particular
relevant service.
Specialization of administration is
the dire need of the time. The days are gone where a generalized IAS officer
looks after the entire administration involving specialized functions like
collection of revenue, diplomatic functions, legal services, engineering
services, infrastructural activities, medical & health services,
educational services, defence of the country from external threats, internal
security, accounts & audit functions, economic functions, information services,
transport services, telecommunication services, protection of environment and
forests, etc. Specialized Services/Corps were established
to look after these various functions of the Government of India and
these Services
should be allowed to do their work. The
country had enough of these generalized bureaucrats lording over every
Ministry
or Department. The country had survived
this onslaught for centuries together and it is high time the country is
allowed to realize its full potential through drastic changes in its
personnel
administration. Where there is no
specialized Service to look after the functions of a particular Ministry
or
Department, the officers belonging to the 37 eligible Services with
relevant
educational background or substantial experience in the field should be
posted. Experience should be substantial (10 years or more) otherwise
IAS officers with one or two years experience in the State
Governments in Departments like Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal
Husbandry,
Home or Finance will claim expertise in that particular field. Actually
that particular Department might
have survived this IAS officer with great difficulty. Alternatively,
the Government of India should
consider creating new specialized Services like Indian Medical Service,
Indian
Agriculture Service, Indian Education Service, etc. Only those posts which
doesn’t require any specialized knowledge on the part of the incumbent but only
a high level of intelligence, integrity and general efficiency should be filled
through the Central Staffing Scheme.
6. Some more Boards have to be set up for
recruitment in some specialized Departments.
A Revenue Services Board has to be set up for filling up posts in the
Department of Revenue on the lines of Foreign Service Board and Services
Selection Board. Similarly Forest
Service Board, Accounts Services Board, etc
are to be formed. These are the urgent
requirement under the present circumstances.
These Boards should be constituted on the lines of Foreign Service Board
whereby only relevant officers from the relevant Services are made part of
them. For instance, the Revenue Services
Board should have only IRS officers and Accounts Services Board should have
officers from IAAS, ICAS, IDAS and IPTAFS. This will make these Services
independent of the ever-expanding IAS.
When this is being done for IFS why not for other important
Services? This will also not entail any
additional expenditure as these Boards will simply replace the Civil Services
Board, Committee of Secretaries and Special Committee of Secretaries.
7. As recommended by the First
Administrative Reforms Commission (1966-70), the Department of Personnel & Training should not itself
administer any service cadre. The administrative control of different service
cadres should vest with individual Ministries and Departments concerned. The
administration of the IAS and the Central Secretariat Service should be the
responsibility of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The generalized character of the IAS should be eliminated for efficiency
in administration. Hence, a specific functional filed should be carved out for
the IAS. The IAS should be converted
into a functional Service. In the words
of the First ARC,
“If the higher posts in the different functional areas are
encadred within one Service, as has happened in the case of the IAS posts in
the States, qualified and competent persons will not be attracted to all the
needed functions and, hence, growth of well-organized Services in the emerging
areas of administration are likely to be inhibited. In the changing context, therefore,
the old concept underlying the formation and the role of the IAS would require readjustment.
We would recommend that a specific functional field must be carved out for the
IAS. This would consist of Land Revenue Administration, exercise of magisterial
functions, and regulatory work in the States, in fields other than those looked
after by officers of other functional services.”
8. As
recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission, Certain posts in the Senior Administrative Grade
(SAG) and the Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) requiring technical or
specialized expertise and not encadred in any of the Services are to be opened
up for being filled up by suitable officers within the Government as well as from
private sector who can bring in new skills into Government. However, here again the authority making
selection should be broad based and should not contain more than one person
from the same Service/background. Otherwise it will be an old wine in a new
bottle. Similarly civil servants should be permitted to
work in the private sector as well as in academic and other non-government
institutions while retaining a lien in government. As recommended by the 2nd
ARC, in drawing up
the list of external organizations to which government servants can be permitted to go on deputation, the
primary consideration should be the
objectives and activities of such organizations and not merely its organizational structure. Government should
permit deputation of civil servants only to such
organizations that are engaged
in non-profit
making activities to ensure that there is no conflict of interest.
9. The
post of Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India, the highest position in
the Indian civil service, has remained the privilege only of the officers from
the IAS. This post has to be made open
for recruitment from other Services.
Similarly, the posts of Secretary (Personnel) and Establishment Officer
are always occupied by the IAS. Officers
from other Services should also be appointed to these posts. It should be made mandatory that no two
officers belonging to the same Service be posted successively to the posts of
Cabinet Secretary, Secretary (Personnel) and Establishment Officer. It should also be ensured that no two
officers from the same Service occupies these three posts at the same time. This
will ensure diversity and improvement in the personnel administration of the
country.
Conclusion:
The framework of the Government of India
has to facilitate a staffing pattern which promotes a link between policy making
and implementation. This will also help the structure of both the Government of
India and the States and promotes the concept of cooperative federalism. Public servants working in Government of
India as well as its attached and subordinate offices have to develop a
national outlook transcending parochial boundaries. This will strengthen
national integration. This is all the
more necessary because policy making today is a specialized function which
requires a broader perspective, conceptual understanding of the domain and
proper appreciation of the external environment. The
first ARC recommended a scheme of reforms to enable entry into middle and
senior management levels in the Central Secretariat from all Services on the
basis of knowledge and experience in the respective areas of specialization. The
Hota Committee on Civil Services Reforms, 2004, had recommended that domain
assignment should be introduced for civil servants to encourage acquisition of
skills, professional excellence and career planning. It had also recommended
that empanelment and posting of Joint Secretaries, Additional Secretaries and
Secretaries should be carried out through domain assignment, competitive
selection and matching of available skills with the job requirements.
As
regards the placement of officers, the Surinder Nath Committee observed as
follows:
“The
principal problem with the present system of selections for particular
positions under the Central Staffing Scheme is that there is no systematic
matching of the competency requirements for particular positions and the
backgrounds of the candidate officers. Also, there is no formal system of
eliciting the interests and preferences of officers for particular positions,
consistent with their background and broader career interests. These lead to
unseemly scrambles for particular prestigious positions, in which unstructured
influences are pervasive. The result is, frequently, a glaring mismatch between
the required competencies and the backgrounds of officers selected for the
positions. Career profiles of officers end up displaying the features of a
“random walk”, with no regard to building skills and capabilities. In the
long-term, these result in poor policy-making and implementation, as well as
insufficient capacity for policymaking and public management.”
The First Administrative Reforms
Commission had also recognized the importance of domain competency and
advocated its philosophy for the management and staffing of civil service
positions in the following manner:
1)
“Devising
a rational basis to fill policy-making positions with officers having required
qualifications and domain competence. This would involve an optimum use of different
Services for policy making assignments in the secretariat.
2) Selecting senior management
personnel from all relevant sources - generalist and specialist. Talent needs to be identified and nurtured in
all the Services.
3) Providing greater opportunities to
talented and competent personnel to move to higher positions in the Government.”
According
to the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations, “The present accent on generalism
should yield place to greater specialisation in one or more areas of public administration.
Training and career development policies should be geared to this objective.”
The Indian Civil Service had its origins in the
erstwhile British Civil Service of colonial days. The foundation of the British Civil Service
was based on aristocracy. Even though
the modern British Civil Service has changed considerably in line with the
modern principles of administration, the Indian Civil Service has still retained
the archaic principles. It is time for a
big shake up of the Indian Civil Service from its slumber. Since independence many committees and
commissions have been appointed to usher in administrative reforms in the
personnel administration of the country.
Lot of changes have been introduced but unfortunately all these reforms
have gone on to strengthen the position of IAS at the cost of all other
Services and to the detriment of the country as a whole. The main reason for this state of affairs is that,
in India, even though civil service reforms have mostly come at the initiative
of the elected representatives forming the government of the day, the reforms
were actually suggested and implemented by the IAS. The Indian civil Service should dynamically modernize
itself. The professionalization of its
activities will bring in speed and reduce the redtape. What best way than to start with by modifying
and improving the Central Staffing Scheme based on the principles of equity,
fairness, justice and efficiency. Hope
the 7th Pay Commission and the new government at the centre takes
care to usher in a new and dynamic personnel administration at the centre to
achieve the lofty ideals enumerated in the Constitution of India, which include the need to alleviate acute
poverty, sustaining a healthy and inclusive economic
growth, ensuring social justice, maintaining
peace and harmony, and the achievement of an ethical, efficient, transparent
and a participative governance.
The writer is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer
currently posted as Deputy Director of Income Tax (Investigation) at Hyderabad.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and not that of the
Government. The writer can be reached at prasantpsirs1@gmail.com....keep on Blogging...
