TREVELYAN
NORTHCOTE
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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