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HomeIndiaGovernanceLateral entry into bureaucracy is not a new idea. It’s been around...

Lateral entry into bureaucracy is not a new idea. It’s been around since 2006

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Veerappa Moily in 2008 and a panel headed by former SC judge B.N. Srikrishna made similar suggestions, but neither was implemented by the government.

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has decided to bring in private and public sector specialists as joint secretaries in various ministries and departments through the lateral entry route. This move — advertisements for 10 posts have already been issued – is based on the recommendation of the Centre’s policy think-tank Niti Aayog.

The idea, though, is not a new one and has been recommended by several committees as part of reports on civil services reforms. However, successive governments failed to implement it over the years.

Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC)

The second ARC headed by Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily in 2008 proposed a plan to bring in sector specialists from various spheres into senior administrative positions in the government.

In its tenth report Refurbishing of Personnel Administration, the ARC recommended that at higher levels of government, lateral entry from the private sector should be introduced to encourage competition for the selected posts.

It also underlined the need to check the free flow of civil servants to the private sector for brief periods, asserting that it could result in serious conflict of interest.

In its report, the ARC said for creating a senior management or leadership pool in the government, competition could be infused through two main mechanisms, one of which would be to open up the senior management cadre to all existing services. The other stream that it suggested was through lateral entry by opening the senior management cadre to aspirants from the private sector, who, it said, would bring new skills into government.

It had, however, also warned that lateral entry as done in the past on an ad hoc basis should not continue and the process should be ‘institutionalised’.

It had also laid down a roadmap for lateral entries, saying the Central Civil Services Authority should be entrusted the task of identifying the posts at higher management level where induction of outside talent was desirable.

Sixth Central Pay Commission

Headed by former Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna, the commission in its 2006 report recommended an open method of selection to the posts of joint secretary-level officers.

“Lateral entry at higher echelons in the Government to ensure availability of the best possible talent from within and outside Government with performance contracts has been recommended. This will ensure entry and retention of talent in the Government even for those jobs that have a high demand and premium in the open market,” the report said.

Hota Committee

The 2004 report of the P.C. Hota Committee on Civil Service Reforms suggested that aptitude and leadership tests be held while selecting bureaucrats. In a significant recommendation, it also said civil service probationers should be allowed one month’s time after commencement of training to exercise their option for the service, adding that domain assignment should be introduced for civil servants to encourage acquisition of skills, professional excellence and career planning.

It also recommended that empanelment and posting of joint secretaries, additional secretaries and secretaries should be carried out through domain assignment, competitive selection and matching of available skills with the job requirements.

Surinder Nath Committee

In its 2003 report, the committee stressed the idea for domain expertise of bureaucrats, suggesting that assigning particular domain to the officers should be a key step for their selection to the Central staffing scheme posts, identifying 11 domains.

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