Lateral Entry in Civil Services
The term ‘lateral entry’ in the civil services refers to a move by the government to appoint outsiders (not candidates from Civil Service Examination) in the middle rung of the ministries especially in the sectors of economy and infrastructure. The appointments are mainly to be made for the posts of Director, Joint Secretary and Deputy Secretary. The issue of lateral entry is being considered in the light of a huge shortage of officers in the middle management level of the central government that has been indicated by the Central Government Staffing Policy Paper of the Department of Personnel and Training.
Background
It is a known fact that the Civil Service Examinations is one of the toughest exams, which attracts the brightest minds of the country. However, this test has failed to bridge certain gaps of personnel in certain sectors. In order to solve this problem, the Prime Minister’s Office has suggested for lateral entry in the civil services. The proposal had fist come vide 2nd Administrative Reforms 10th Report and later followed by several other think tanks. The initiative involves shortlisting of private individuals for the posts of Director, Joint Secretary and Deputy Secretary.
Recent Proposals
Some of the proposals that have been made for the appointment of such outsiders are:
- Shortlisting mainly private sector executives or social workers, entrepreneurs and academicians on the basis of some set up experience and educational qualification.
- The selection is to be done by a committee with the Cabinet Secretary as the head.
- This appointment is to be restricted to only the sectors of finance, economy and infrastructure which are only technical in nature. It will not be extended to the ministries of Home, Defence, Personnel and Corporate Affairs which are mostly involved in regulating functions.
Futuristic Analysis
The idea of a lateral entry could not be accepted by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions due to the lack of feasibility in adoption of the method. Some of the major concerns raised against the proposal are:
Question of performance
It has been cited by many critics that the talent which the career civil servants appointed via the Civil Services Examination possess will not be found in the external candidates. They are groomed to create a closely knit administrative framework wherein a link is developed between the top policy making positions and field level implementation. A person not undergoing this grooming will not be able to fulfill this responsibility efficiently.
Inequitable sharing of burden
If lateral entry is allowed to these senior decision making levels it will result in an unfair and inequitable distribution of benefits and burden wherein the career civil servants will have to prove their excellence to reach the position of policy making from the ground level implementation, the outside candidates will straight forward go to policy making positions without having to bear the burden of toiling examinations and trainings. These candidates will even fail in their job if at all this becomes a reality because they will go to policy making without knowing the situations in the grass root levels that is in the rural areas.
Fall in civil service entrants
In any sector of employment one can attract good candidates only if there is an incentive of reaching to the top managerial positions. However, this will be totally hurt if lateral entry is allowed.
Internal correction necessary for success
It is also a code of any organization that its managerial systems have to be improved from inside rather than outside. So, if lateral entry is allowed, it is bound to indicate the failure of the internal system of administration. It must be done through a rigorous performance appraisal and personnel management.
Instead, some of the suggestions for improving personnel strength in the Indian Administrative Service have been given by the Ministry of Personnel as follows:
- The number of candidates to be recruited for the service is to be increased.
- The state governments have the responsibility to send lists of suitable officers who can be promoted to higher positions from the civil servants.
- Four Administrative Training Institutes must start training in order to cover up the backlog of induction training for the promoted IAS Officers.
- Proposals have come for lowering the permissible age of entry into the civil services and establishing more national institutes of public administration to nurture new public service applicants.
- There have also been proposals to change the criterion for promotion from seniority based career progression to appraisal based progression wherein on mandatory completion of training the promotion shall be awarded.
In order to avoid arbitrary dismissal of civil servants steps must be taken to fix the tenure of service in senior posts. It has called for a Civil Service Reform Bill that can include all reformed provisions on role of civil servants.
