Tuesday, March 11, 2014

WHAT AILS PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSIONS IN INDIA





TREVELYAN



NORTHCOTE





        India enjoys presently the luxury of having one Union Public Service Commission & a host of State Public Service Commissions. Constitutions of these came about consequent to enactment of Government of India Act, 1935. Earlier to this, a Public Service Commission of India was set up on 1 October 1926 following the Lee Commission's  recommendations. However, a provision for setting it up had already been cleared in the Government of India Act 1919.

       The basic objective of these Public Service Commissions was to provide a transparent institution that was competent enough to select suitable personnel for a professional public service by ensuring recruitment & advancement based on merit - free from political influence, nepotism & any kind of pressure or favoritism. Individual likes & dislikes & any type of canvassing had no role to play in the selection process. These essentials had also been brought out by Northcote & Trevelyan in their famous report submitted,more than 160 years ago laying down the principles for a professional & politically neutral civil service for the United Kingdom.

       Surprisingly, these principles & objectives hold good even today as compared to the days when the institution of Public Service Commission was first put into practice.

       It needs to be understood that almost at every State level, almost 69% of resources are spent on staff, salary & related matters; the Human Resources of the States constitute the most important wealth. India stands on a district advantage today with the highest number of its population falling in the category of youth in the comity of nations. This is the time for India to make the best use of her youth dividend. This equation is likely to remain for the next 25-30 years. In States, the personnel recruited by the Public Service Commissions are instrumental in shaping the destinies of these people by ensuring good governance. The personnel recruited by the Public Service Commissions generally remain in the Government service for about 30 years. Therefore, it is crucial that adequate importance to Union & State Public Service Commissions is given at the Central & State levels. With the National Economy plunging downwards, this is the time to make the best use of this Youth Dividend, else it may become a Youth Disaster!

        Having said this, let us now see the challenges that we face. Phenomenal challenges in the fields of IT, Science & Technology have occurred. World has now shrunk into  a global village consequent to globalization & economic liberalization. As a result, there have occurred fundamental changes in the role & relevance of Public Service Commissions.

6     Long gone are the British, who, today, in their Civil Service Commission recruit only about 5% of their civil service posts! Besides U.K, in Canada, South Africa & Australia ,recruitment for public services has been decentralized more or less wholly. In most of the countries of the world, the process of recruitment has been partially privatized. In South Africa & Australia, recruitment has been decentralized to the Ministries/Departments. Be that as it may, India can ill afford to follow in the similar lines for a plethora of reasons.

7     While most of the commonwealth countries have moved away from the task of actual recruitment, it is well worth a debate whether the Union & State Public service Commissions continue to remain as the main recruiting agencies for the civil services at senior levels! In Indian context, where the civil & administrative ethos is entirely different from the rest of the world, it is high time that at least, we begin upgrading our age old models & systems to suit public services. This also calls for  upgrading the internal systems including the examination system in keeping with the objective & requirement of e governance.The Public Service Commissions need to be more transparent,credible & accountable.

8     After independence, the Union & State Public Service Commisions have been performing their tasks in a satisfactory manner. Generally, the schedules & calendars are adhered to. Care is taken that the Commissions are not only fair but also appear to be fair. While , by & large, the trust of the public & candidates still rests on these institutions, there are, however allegations of unhealthy & unsavory practices being followed in few of the Commissions.

        It is unfortunate that, although the appointments of Chairmen/Chairpersons & Members are described in the Constitution, the same is silent about their selection procedure. The present system is based on total discretion of the executive in the selection of nearly half of the Members of a State Public Service Commission. There is a definite need for providing a rational & credible mechanism for selection of Chairmen/Chairpersons & Members. In the cases of Chairmen, there is a requirement of constitution of a Search Committee that short lists at least three suitable persons for the office of Chairmen. In so far as the Members are concerned, a similar approach needs to be adopted .The incumbent Chairman should invariably be consulted. In both cases, the persons selected should be fit & deserving as envisaged in the Constitution. But this does not happen. All sorts of pulls & pressures by politicians & bureaucrats ultimately result in their cronies filling these vacancies. The results are suicidal.

       The sad part is that the Central & State Governments have made inroads into the functioning of the Public Service Commissions. In case of States, they are not giving requisitions for gazetted posts to be filled up through the Commissions & are doing so on their own ,thereby, getting involved in uncalled for & corrupt practices. Moreover, it is seen that both the Central & State Governments & the Executive are not serious about the respective Public Service Commisions as they treat them as their adjuncts & deny them the desired autonomy as envisaged in the Constitution.

1    The role of State Public Service Commissions has certainly been whittled down over the years. These are generally faced with inadequacy of infrastructure/staff due to insufficient budgetary support. The State Commissions should be given financial autonomy in keeping with the spirit of the provisions of the Constitution regarding their independence from the Executive. After the budgets are approved by the Legislature, the State Public Service Commisions should exercise full powers on their operation.

.      A number of court cases, where either a particular examination is stayed or the constitutional functioning of the Public Service Commissions are brought under scrutiny, have decidedly impacted upon functioning of the institutions. This continues with astonishing regularity!

1     Further, there is no uniformity in terms of service, pay, perks, allowances & modes/procedures of conducting various examinations by States. While Constitution provides equal rights to all, there are certain States that have put embargo on their own by making regional language as a mandatory subject to be cleared by the aspirants. Besides, there are far too many anomalies .The moot issue is ,that if any amendments are required, these have to be brought about only after  amendments to the Constitution are carried out. These are not done by the Neta Jis, as,firstly, they are ignorant of  most of the issues that concern the governance  except serving their personal interests ,& ,secondly, this does not help their political parties either. So the entire functioning of Public Service Commissions remains archaic & ‘matter of fact’. As a result,  every one looks forward to enjoy the pay & perks of these posts being  plum jobs with enjoyable tenures ! Number of political strings are pulled to get entries to enjoy a six years tenure.Most surprising fact is ,that the Union Public Service Commission provides tenures up to 65 Years compared to 62 in other States-presumably because the former is located near the Raisins Hill -right next to corridors of power! In some cases , some Members, manage to get themselves elevated to the posts of Chairmen.in this way,they serve for more than a decade  !Some of them even manage to move  inter State & enjoy another term of the Chairmen ! It is  a fine stage craft & only accomplished players can perform such feats!






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