Public / Civil Service Values and Ethics in Public Administration
The Public service system like Civil service, Policing, and other government officials is the backbone of the administrative system which acts as most important tool for governance of our country. Over the period, the role of Public services has changed depending on the agenda of the governance of that particular period. The institution of Public service has rendered service to the overall socio-economic development of the country. By advising the government of the day, managing programs, and serving citizens, public servants play a vital role in sustaining India’s democratic institutions and fostering economic prosperity and social well being.
Global Values
- Committed to service: The Public servants should be innovative, objective, professional and efficient and works to obtain better results for the community and the government.
- Ethics: They demonstrate leadership, trustworthy, and acts with integrity, in all that they do.
- Respectful: They should respect all people, including their rights and their heritage.
- Accountable: They should be open and accountable to the people community under the law and within the framework of government responsibility.
- Impartial: A public servant are expected to be apolitical and provides the government with advice that is frank, honest, timely and based on the best available evidence.
Ethical behaviour of Public Servants
The importance of following ethics in civil service stems from the following.
- Service throughout the country and its strong binding character
- Non-partisan advice in the midst of political instability and uncertainties
- Administrative and managerial capacity of the services
- Effective policy-making and regulation
- Effective coordination between institutions of governance
- Leadership at different levels of administration.
- Service delivery at the cutting edge level
- Provide ‘continuity and change’ to the administration.
Public Servants Obligation to the Community
Public servants have special obligations to the community because of three reasons.
- First, they are responsible for managing resources entrusted to them by the community.
- Second, they provide and deliver services to the community.
- Third, they take important decisions that affect all aspects of the community life.
The community has a right to expect that their Public servants functions fairly, efficiently and impartially. It is essential for the community to be able to trust and have assurance in the reliability of the Public servant’s decision-making process. The decisions and actions of Public servants should reflect the policies of the government of the day and the standards that the community expects from them as government servants and they are expected to maintain the same standards of professionalism, responsiveness, and impartiality.
