One cheer to Civil Services Bill
It almost ensures that civil servants can now function without any fear of punishment
The UPA II governments proposal to introduce the Civil Services Bill 2009 is eminently welcome if it signals that the government is serious about improving the quality of governance. According to press reports, the Bill has been designed to insulate civil servants from political interference. Such interference has long been recognised as a major factor for the poor state of governance in our country.
As a press report has it, The end of the transfer posting raj is in sight. The highlights of the Bill are :
* Fixed tenure of three years for the posting of IAS and IPS officers.
* A new agency Central Public Services Authority to be set up to act as a watchdog against political interference in the bureaucracy. It will also keep a watch on the performance of the babus.
* Posting to be strictly on the basis of performance evaluated on a number of tasks assigned to the bureaucrats over the years.
* All appointments, transfers and postings to be subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
* Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha to have a say in the appointment of the Cabinet Secretary. Similar role for the leader of the opposition of the State Assemblies.
But then can we say three cheers to the Civil Services Bill 2009?
A closer examination will show that the Bill deserves just one cheer. This is because the Bill is not designed to ensure that civil servants are held accountable and there is effective good governance.
It is true that the Bill provides greater security to civil servants so far as their tenure is concerned. A conscientious civil servant can function now without any sense of fear of punishment by way of transfer for not toeing the dictat of politicians.
But what about performance? The Act rewards civil servants with enhanced security of tenure but does it provide equally enhanced punishment for poor or unsatisfactory performance? There is already widespread criticism that Article 311 of the Constitution provides a cast iron security to civil servants. With the enactment of the Bill this security will be further enhanced. Let us also not forget that the moment any law is made it can provide fresh grounds for litigation. Thanks to our slow moving judicial system there is already delay in every level of decision making. Will the Bill further reduce the velocity (or is it viscosity?) of decision making in administration?
Hence, no second cheer for the Bill. Replacing Article 311 by a rolling contract system will bring in an effective measure to weed out deadwood in the bureaucracy and improve performance.
We must hold back the third cheer for an even more serious lacuna in the current system. It is not so much political interference that is responsible for the ineffectiveness of the bureaucrats. It is the lack of legal powers at every level under the umpteen acts, rules and regulations which the civil servants have to implement that makes them vulnerable to political whims and fancies. Except the District Magistrate or the Collector and the District Superintendent of Police, there are very few officers at different levels who have been specifically and legally empowered to discharge their functions.
It is likely that in many special acts specific authorities may have been empowered. The sad fact is that out of the 4-5 million employees of the government only an extremely small percentage of officials are empowered by explicit legal provisions. If all officials at different levels are empowered under the respective acts and rules then a culture of independent, objective functioning of the civil services will develop. This in turn will be a guarantee for effective and fair governance of the country. After all, it is the bureaucracy that is the delivery mechanism for the policies framed by the government. Hence no third cheer for this Bill. It deserves just one cheer.
It is the lack of legal powers at every level which makes civil servants vulnerable to political whims and fancies
In the last decade, N Vittal, the former CVC, emerged as the voice of our collective conscience. This is his weekly take on public life in India