IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION No. OF 2011
(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India)
IN THE MATTER OF:
Articles 14, 21 and 32 of the Constitution of India; and
AND IN THE MATTER OF:
Rule 3(3)(ii)(iii) of the All India Services Conduct Rule 1968
AND IN THE MATTER OF:
Implementation of the recommendations of the following:
i. Committee on Civil Service Reform (Hota Committee) on Civil
Service Reform,
ii. Second Administrative Reforms Commission, Central Staffing
Scheme,
iii. Committee on Prevention of Corruption (Santhanam Committee
Report),
iv. Economic Administration Reforms Commission (Jha Commission)
IN THE MATTER OF:
1. T.S.R. Subramanian
Former Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India, „Guru Kripa‟, 74, Sector 15 A, NOIDA - 201 301
2. Dr. Abid Hussain
Former Ambassador of India to United States of America 237, Sector 15 A, NOIDA - 201 301
2
3. T. S. Krishna Murthy Former Chief Election Commissioner
Flat No.9, Gokul Tower (Next to Mookambika Complex) No.7, Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Road, Alwarpet, Chennai - 600 018
4. N. Gopalaswami
Former Chief Election
Commissioner of India, Flat no.5, 'Leo Madhuram', 39, Giri Road, T.Nagar, Chennai - 600 017
5. Ved Prakash Marwah
Former Governor of Manipur, Mizoram and Jharkhand, A-2 Hira Mahal, 44 Amrita Shergill Marg, New Delhi – 110003
6. Bhure Lal Former Secretary to
the Government of India, Former Chairman of the Environment Pollution (Prevention) Control Authority (EPCA) 67, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi – 110003
7. N.C. Saxena Member, National Advisory Commission 68 Friends Colony West, New Delhi – 110065
8. Jagdish Chandra Pant
Former Secretary to the Government of India Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Shraddha Kunj, 159/I Vasant Vihar, Dehradun – 248006
9. Surendra Narain Mathur
Former Managing Director, Indian Railway Finance Corporation 706, „Nanda‟, Kaushambi
3
Apartments, Sahibabad (Dist. Ghaziabad) – 201010
10. Arvind Varma
Former Secretary, Ministry of Chemicals and Petroleum, Government of India K 67 A, Hauz Khas Enclave, New Delhi – 110016
11. Prem Narain Mittal Former Member (Investigation) Central Board of Direct Taxes A-56, Retreat Apartments, 20, I. P. Extension, Delhi-110092
12. Keki Daruwalla
Former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on International Affairs 79 Mount Kailash, SFS Apartments, New Delhi -110065
13. R.L. Narayan Former High Commissioner
to Canada D-71, I.F.S. Apartments, Mayur Vihar, Phase – I, Delhi – 110 091
14. Ajay Prasad
Former Secretary, Civil Aviation, Government of India C-622, Ground Floor,
New Friends Colony, New Delhi-110025
15. Sharad Chandra Behar Former Chief Secretary,
Madhya Pradesh E-4 /12, Arera Colony, Bhopal – 462016
4
16. Nirmala Buch Former Secretary to the Government of India Ministry of Rural Development E-4/17, Arera Colony, Bhopal – 462016
17. Arundhati Ghose
Former Ambassador to United Nations Offices in Geneva
and to the Conference on Disarmament C 1903 Palam Vihar, Gurgaon - 122017
18. Amitabh Chandra
Former Principal Secretary, Medical Education & Drugs Department, Government of Maharashtra C 601 Blossom Boulevard, South Main Road, Koregaon Park, Pune - 411 001
19. Nripendra Misra Former Chairperson, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India A-222(FF), New Friends Colony, New Delhi -110065
20. Sivaramakrishnan S. Natarajan
Former Chairman, Ordinance Factory Board & Director General, Ordinance Factories, Ministry of Defence, Department of Defence Production
C - 3, Ramaswamy Apartments, 41, Warren Road,
Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004 21. Joginder Singh Former Director, Central Bureau of Investigation
123-124, Now Sansad Vihar, CGHS, Sector 22, Plot No. 4, Dwarka, New Delhi -110077
5
22. Bahukutumbi Raman
Former Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India A-2/3, Bharathi Dasan Colony, K.K. Nagar, Chennai – 600078
23. B. K. Ratnakar Rao I.P.S. Former Secretary (Security),
Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India 425, 10th Main, Banashankari II Stage, Bangalore – 560070
24. Arun Bhagat
Former Director Intelligence Bureau, Government of India D-84, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi-110049
25. Sushil Tripathi
Former Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India 27, Sector 15 A, Noida – 201 301
26. Rajinder Jit Khurana
Former Chairman, Joint Intelligence Committee, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India Former Secretary to the
Government of India E-1/202, Arera Colony, Bhopal – 462016
27. Krishna V. Rajan
Former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India B-73, IFS Apartments, Mayur Vihar, Phase-1, Delhi-110091
6
28. Rakesh K. Mittal Former Social Welfare Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh 1/14, Vishwas Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow – 226010
29. Amar Nath Ram
Former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
D-73, IFS Apartments, Mayur Vihar Phase-1, Delhi-110091
30. Raj K. Bhargava Former Home Secretary, Government of India C-390, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024
31. Kewal Ram Bhati
Former Vice Chairman Uttarakhand Public Services Tribunal, Dehradun 25, Navyug Enclave, Indirapuram III, GMS Marg, Dehradun
32. Dr. S. Chakravarthy
Former Member, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice Commission, Government of India 6-3-864/2/B, Sadat Manzil, Begumpet, Hyderabad 500016
33. Shailaja Chandra
Former Chairperson,
Public Grievances Commission and Appellate Authority under Delhi Right to Information Act, 2001, Government of NCT of Delhi F 6/3 Vasant Vihar, New Delhi - 110057
34. Francis Thomas Raphael Colaso
Former Director General of Police, Karnataka 3, Gitanjali Apartments, 16, Moyenville Road, Langford Town, Bangalore - 560025
7
35. Ravindra Gupta
Former Secretary Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises H-50, Sector 39, NOIDA - 201301
36. Siddharth Kak
Former Member Customs Central Board of Excise and Customs (Spl. Secretary)
Sector-27, District Gautam Budh Nagar, Noida - 201301
37. Ajit Kumar
Former Finance Secretary, Government of India A-13, IFS Apartments, Mayur Vihar Phase-1, Delhi-110091
38. Dr. Jagdish Khattar
E – 16, Sector – 40, Noida – 201 301, Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Government of India Chairman and Managing Director, Carnation Auto India Pvt. Ltd. Studio 205, IHDP, Plot No. 7, Sec. 127, Noida-201301
39. Mano Ranjan
Former Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Government of India
C-62, GF, Sector 14, Noida - 201 301
40. Pravin Chandra Sharma Former Member
Board of Revenue Uttar Pradesh Former Chairman, Uttar Pradesh State Roads Corporation B-35, Sector C, Aliganj, Lucknow 226024
8
41. H.H. Vishwanathan Former High Commissioner of India to Nigeria
J 041, Windsor Park, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad -201014
42. Sarita Prasad
Former Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India C-622, Ground Floor,
New Friends Colony, New Delhi-110025 43. N.K. Sabharwal
Former Director, Cooperation for Development Bureau for Asia and the Pacific at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) 85-M, Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi 110048
44. Varghese Alexander Valiaparampil Former Adviser Transport,
Planning Commission of India Bethel Bhavan, Chettimukku, Maramon (Kerala) - 689549
45. P. Venkatarama Venkatakrishnan
Former Chairman, Pollution Control Board, Chennai Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal 2D, Front Block, Sri Sai Subodaya Apartments, 66 East Coast Road, Tiruvanmiyur, Chennai-600041
46. K. Aggarwal Former Principal Advisor, Planning Commission, Government of India 281, Tower 4, Supreme Enclave, Mayur Vihar Phase –I, Delhi-110091
47. Kamal Nain Bakshi
Former Ambassador of India to Italy A-24, IFS Apartments, Mayur Vihar-1, Delhi-110091
9
48. Bhagirath Lal Das Former Secretary, Department of Steel, Government of India 1102, Vindhyachal, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad - 201010
49. Jai Paul Gupta
Former Financial Commissioner, Punjab H.No. 81, Sector 19-A,
Chandigarh - 160019 50. Swatantra V. S. Juneja
Former Special Secretary, Ministry of Finance Former Director General, Asian Development Bank, Manila Founder Member Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations 214, Sector 15A, Noida – 201 301
51. D.V.Kapur
Former Secretary to the Government of India Ministries of Power, Heavy Industry and Chemicals & Petrochemicals 405 Aradhana Apts., Sector-13 R K Puram, New Delhi-110066
52. Bishambar Makhija
Former Principal Advisor, Planning Commission, Government of India 307, Shalaka, Mah. Karve Road,
Mumbai 400021. 53. Ravindra Mathur
Former Secretary to the Government of India Former Chief Secretary, Uttar Pradesh B-2/1, Vipul Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow – 226010
54. Mahesh Prasad
Former Chairman Indian Trade Promotion Organisation 20, Sector 14A, Noida – 201 301
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55. L.V. Saptharishi
Former Secretary to the Government of India Former Election Observer, Chapra parliamentary Constituency in Bihar for General Elections 2004 M-88, Greater Kailash -II, New Delhi – 110048
56. Ram Updesh Singh Former Chairman, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Former Vigilance Commissioner 1, Aniket IAS Colony, Kidwaipuri, Patna-800001
57. Ishwar. C Srivastava
Former Chairman & Managing Director, Rajasthan Minerals Development Corporation, Jaipur
President, Transparency International (Rajasthan Chapter)
4-Ka, 26, Jawahar Nagar, Jaipur - 302004
58. Dr. Gopalan Sundaram
Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India A 601, “Dugar Apartments” Keshav Perumal Puram, Greenways Road, Chennai - 600028
59. R.P. Agrawal Former Secretary, Higher Education,
Government of India 31, Greenwoods Society Phase II, Sector Omega I, Pocket P-II,
Greater Noida – 201308 60. Anil Baijal
Former Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India E-524, Greater Kailash, Part II, New Delhi, 110048
11
61. Kulbir Singh Former Chief Administrative Officer,
Northern Railway (Ministry of Railways) 64, Jacaranda Marg, DLF City, Phase II, Gurgaon – 122002
62. Dipak Chatterjee
Former Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India
Former Ambassador of India to European Union, Belgium & Luxembourg A-001 Belvedere Tower, DLF Phase-2, Gurgaon 122002
63. Arun Bongirwar
Former Chief Secretary, Maharashtra Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust 10A, Nyay Sagar, Near Guru Nanak Hospital, Kalanagar, Bandra East, Mumbai 400051
64. Deepak Dasgupta
Former Chairman, National Highways Authority of India C-604, Central Park, DLF Golf Course Road, Sector - 42, Gurgaon - 122002
65. D.S. Bagga
Former Chief Secretary
Government of Uttar Pradesh 46-B, Green View Apartments, Sector 15-A, Noida – 201 301
66. Harsh Gupta
Former Chief Secretary, Himachal Pradesh 2910/ C-1, Sushant Lok, Phase-1, Gurgaon 122009
12
67. S.K. Arora Former Ambassador of India to Iran 13, Sector 15A, Noida – 201 301
68. D.R. Kaarthikeyan
Former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation Former Director General
of the National Human Rights Commission Former Special Director General, Central Reserve Police Force 102, Anand Lok, New Delhi - 110049
69. Kura Ram Lakhanpal
Former Chief Secretary, Punjab Address - House No - 638, Sector - 16 D, Chandigarh – 160016
70. Mr. Jagmohan L. Bajaj
Former Chairman UP Electricity Regulatory Commission 184, Sector 15A, Noida – 201 301
71. B.S. Sial
Former Director General of Police, NSG 198, Sector 15A, Noida – 201 301
72. Raghubar Dayal
Former Managing Director, Container Corporation of India
B-100, Defence Colony, New Delhi-110024 73. Manohar Subrahmanyam Former Joint Secretary Department of Food, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Government of India C-77 Indira Nagar,
Lucknow 226016
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74. P.P.Khanna Former Development Commissioner, Small Scale Industries, Government of India 213, Sector 15-A, NOIDA - 201 301
75. N.N. Vasudev
Former Vice-Chairman Railway Claims Tribunal 338B, Sector 15A, Noida – 201 301
76. Proloy Bagchi Former Additional Secretary,
Department of Posts and Telegraphs, Government of India
1, Chinar Lake, Ridge Apartments, Ridge Road, Idgah Hill, Bhopal – 462 001.
77. Mr. Vijay Kumar
Former Secretary Ministry of External Affairs 7, Sector 15A, Noida – 201 301
78. Dr. S. Narayan Former Secretary to
the Prime Minister Former Chief Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister 64, ABM Avenue, Chennai – 28 79. S. Regunathan Former Chief Secretary,
Government of Delhi A-61, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi – 110047 80. Surendra Singh Pangtey Former Administrative Member, Board of Revenue, Lucknow
25 F, Neembuwala, Garhi Cantt. Dehradun 248003
81. Anand Sarup
Former Chairman, National Book Trust of India
Former Education Secretary, Government of India
14
15D, Golf View Apartments, Saket, New Delhi-110017 82. Surjit Kishore Das
Former Chief Secretary, Uttarakhand 66, New Moti Bagh,
New Delhi – 110023 83. Bhalachandra N. Bhagwat
Secretary, Ministry Human
Resource Development, Government of India 8, Priya, Worli Sea-Face,
Mumbai - 4000 30 ..Petitioners Versus
1. Union of India
Through the Cabinet Secretary Cabinet Secretariat Rashtrapati Bhavan New Delhi - 110004
2. State of Andhra Pradesh Through the Chief Secretary Government of Andhra Pradesh C-Block, Secretariat, Hyderabad -500022
3. State of Arunachal Pradesh Through the Chief Secretary Government of Arunachal Pradesh Banquet Hall, Niti Vihar, Itanagar – 791 111
4. State of Assam Through the Chief Secretary
Government of Assam Assam Secretariat (Civil), Block – C, 3rd Floor, Dispur, Guwahati – 781 006
5. State of Bihar Through the Chief Secretary Government of Bihar Main Secretariat, Patna, 800015
15
6. State of Chattisgarh Through the Chief Secretary Government of Chattisgarh DKS Bhawan, Mantralaya, Raipur - 492001
7. State of Goa Through the Chief Secretary Government of Goa Secretariat, Porvorim,
Goa – 403521
8. State of Gujarat Through the Chief Secretary Government of Gujarat New Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar - 382 010
9. State of Haryana Through the Chief Secretary Government of Haryana Room No. 4, 4th Floor Haryana Civil Secretariat, Sector-1, Chandigarh - 160001
10. State of Himachal Pradesh Through the Chief Secretary Government of Himachal Pradesh HP Secretariat, Shimla - 171002
11. State of Jammu & Kashmir Through the Chief Secretary Government of Jammu & Kashmir R. No. 2/7, 2nd, Floor Main Building,
Civil Secretariat, Jammu, 180001
12. State of Jharkhand Through the Chief Secretary Government of Jharkhand Project Building, Dhurwa Post Office, Ranchi – 834004
16
13. State of Karnataka Through the Chief Secretary Government of Karnataka Room no. 320, 3rd Floor, Vidhan Soudha, Bangalore - 560001
14 State of Kerala Through the Chief Secretary
Government of Kerala Government Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram - 695001
15. State of Madhya Pradesh Through the Chief Secretary Government of Madhya Pradesh Mantralaya, Vallabh Bhawan, Bhopal – 462004
16. State of Maharashtra Through the Chief Secretary Government of Maharashtra Mantralaya, Mumbai 400032
17. State of Manipur Through the Chief Secretary Government of Manipur Old Secretariat, South Block, Imphal – 795001 (Manipur)
18. State of Meghalaya Through the Chief Secretary Government of Meghalaya Meghalaya Civil Secretariat,
Shillong - 793001
19. State of Mizoram Through the Chief Secretary Government of Mizoram New Secretariat Complex, Aizawl, 796001
20. State of Nagaland Through the Chief Secretary Government of Nagaland Nagaland Civil Secretariat, Kohima - 797004
17
21. State of Orissa Through the Chief Secretary Government of Orissa Orissa Secretariat, Bhubaneswar – 751001
22. State of Punjab
Through the Chief Secretary Government of Punjab Punjab Civil Secretariat, Sector - 1 Chandigarh-160017
23. State of Rajasthan Through the Chief Secretary Government of Rajasthan Government Secretariat, Jaipur-302005
24. State of Sikkim Through the Chief Secretary Government of Sikkim Gangtok, Sikkim -737101
25. State of Tamil Nadu Through the Chief Secretary Government of Tamil Nadu Secretariat, Fort St. George, Chennai, Chennai-600009
26. State of Tripura Through the Chief Secretary Government of Tripura New Secretariat Complex, Post Office Kunjavan, Agaratala-799006
27. State of Uttarakhand
Through the Chief Secretary Government of Uttarakhand Uttarakhand Secretariat, 4, Subhash Road, Secretariat, Dehradun-248001
28. State of Uttar Pradesh Through the Chief Secretary Government of Uttar Pradesh Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan, Secretariat, Lucknow-226001
18
29. State of West Bengal Through the Chief Secretary Government of West Bengal Secretariat, Writers Building, Kolkata-700001
30. Union Territory of Andaman
& Nicobar Through the Chief Secretary Andaman & Nicobar (UT) Administration Secretariat, Port Blair - 744101
31. Union Territory of Chandigarh Through the Advisor to the Administrator (Chandigarh) UT Secretariat, Sector 9, Chandigarh -160009
32. Union Territory of Daman & Diu Through the Administrator Daman and Diu (UT) Administrator Secretariat, Moti Daman, Secretariat, 396220
33. Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli Through the Administrator Dadra & Nagar Haveli (UT) Secretariat, Silvassa- 396230
34. National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Through the Chief Secretary Government of NCT Delhi, Delhi Secretariat, I.P. Estate, New Delhi- 110002
35. Union Territory of Lakshadweep Through the Administrator Union Territory of Lakshadweep Kavaratti, Lakshadweep - 682555
19
36. Union Territory of Puducherry Through the Chief Secretary Puducherry Administration Chief Secretariat, 1, Beach Road, U.T. of Puducherry,
Puducherry- 605001 ...Respondents
WRIT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 32
OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
TO
THE HON‟BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA AND HIS HON‟BLE
COMPANION JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE PETITIONER ABOVE NAMED MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH: 1. The Petitioners herein, are citizens of India are preferring the
present writ petition, which is by way of public interest litigation
are senior civil servants who have retired after attaining the
senior-most ranks of the higher Civil Services. They are,
amongst others, a Cabinet Secretary, a Governor, Chief Election
Commissioners, Chief Secretaries to various State Governments,
Secretaries to the Government of India, Ambassadors and High
Commissioners, Heads of Police / Paramilitary forces/
Investigative Agencies at the Centre and in the States, Heads of
Departments, Commissions and Tribunals, Advisors to the
Government of India and have served at senior levels in various
20
international organizations, including the United Nations. The
Petitioners have all served in the civil services for long periods of
time and between them have more than two thousand five
hundred man–years of hands-on experience of public
administration. They have thus acquired intimate knowledge of
the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of the administrative
machine. Further, they represent officers who entered service
over a twenty - two year time span (ranging from the 1950 to
the 1972 batches) and have thus witnessed both the evolution
as well as the deterioration in the standards of the civil services.
They seek no personal gain or benefit from this Petition, but
instead, as insiders hope to use the insights gained through long
years of experience to suggest effective measures of systemic
administrative reform.
2. That it is widely acknowledged, including by the Government of
India, that poor implementation and weak oversight have
distorted and reduced the effectiveness of Government policies
and programmes. Thus, the Second Administrative Reforms
Commission (ARC) acknowledged that “governance is admittedly
the weak link in our quest for prosperity and equity. Elimination
of corruption is not only a moral imperative but an economic
necessity for a nation aspiring to catch up with the rest of the
world. Improved governance in the form of non-expropriation,
contract enforcement, and decrease in bureaucratic delays and
corruption can raise the GDP growth rate significantly” (Second
21
ARC, Fourth Report on Ethics in Governance). The Tenth Five
Year Plan noted that “people‟s welfare is largely determined by
the efficiency of public delivery mechanisms. The best plan
cannot compensate for poor implementation; accountability and
efficiency in all our public institutions is the key to unlocking the
potential of our country and to sustained social development.”
3. That weak governance has adversely impacted performance and
resulted in unacceptably poor outcomes in a large number of
critically important sectors. While the official estimates of
poverty in India range from 28% (Planning Commission), to
37.2% (Suresh Tendulkar Committee), to at least 50% (NC
Saxena Committee), to as high as 77% (Sengupta Committee),
it is clear that well over a quarter of our population still lives
below the poverty line. The persistence of large-scale poverty
and illiteracy, the lack of employment, shelter, clean drinking
water, basic sanitation and health care, food and nutrition, are
all manifestations of serious failures of national governance.
Despite its high growth rate, India scores poorly in virtually all
international rankings of countries based on indices of social
development (India ranked 134 out of 182 countries surveyed in
the UNDP‟s widely recognized annual Human Development Index
for 2009). On the other hand, there is little doubt that clean and
efficient governance within the democratic framework would
transform the social, economic and political life of our people
and build a strong, prosperous and vibrant nation.
22
4. That since the implementation of Government policies and
programmes is the responsibility of the permanent civil service,
the lacunae and fault lines in this regard can be traced back
directly to the civil servant. While proximate causes can always
be identified for under-performance in individual sectors, the
consistent failure to achieve targets, across the board and over
time, clearly indicates that the basic problem underpinning each
failure lies in implementation arising out of poor governance.
Any attempt to improve administration must therefore
necessarily focus on the micro–issue of civil service reform,
which in turn affects all aspects of service delivery and
implementation. The Petitioners are of the opinion that
addressing this fundamental issue will directly and significantly
improve the quality of delivery and implementation of
Government policies and programmes and thus the quality of
governance in general.
5. That the Petitioners further submit on the basis of credible
Government documents in the public domain, that poor
governance has been the main cause of these poor outcomes.
As the tenth five year plan states: “Successful implementation of
development programmes requires adequate funds, an
appropriate policy framework, the formulation of suitable plans
and an effective delivery machinery. However, past experiences
23
suggest that availability of funds is no panacea for tackling the
problems of poverty, backwardness and low human development
in India. Funds may be necessary, but they are not a sufficient
condition; the determining factor seems to be the capability of
the funding Ministries/State Governments to formulate viable
schemes and of the delivery system to implement these schemes
on the ground. There are serious deficiencies in both respects
and they can be regarded broadly as due to „poor governance‟”.
6. That structurally, public administration in the country is
compromised by (a) corruption within the administration, (b) a
„spoils system‟, previously recognized by this Hon‟ble Court, that
has meant an irresolute system of tenure, transfers and
promotions, (c) political interference and pressure on civil
servants, leading to wrongful decisions manifestly not in the
public interest and engendering both corruption and the „spoils
system‟; and finally, (d) the non-implementation of consistently
recommended reforms for institutional change. These
interlocking phenomena have been repeatedly addressed by
numerous Government-appointed committees, as being primarily
responsible for the poor state of governance in India. There is
an urgent need to make the civil servant accountable, sensitive
and responsive; if this is achieved, there will be across-the-
spectrum benefits. Since the civil servant at all levels, from the
village to the block/thana to the tehsil, district, and state
secretariat is directly in touch with the citizen, an improvement
24
in the quality of his/her output will surely positively impact the
overall quality of governance. It is imperative to address the
micro-causes which have rendered the civil servant apathetic,
callous, ineffective and corrupt. There is an urgent need to usher
reforms on the above lines.
7. That the Union Government as well as the State Governments
have set up numerous Committees which have studied and
made recommendations with regard to administrative and civil
service reforms. All these Committees have concurred on the
need to protect the civil servant from extraneous pressures and
make him/her independent so that he/she can render his/her
considered advice freely and frankly, without fear or favour.
Although many of the recommendations of these Committees
have been broadly similar, they have not been accepted or
implemented. In this context, the Second Administrative Reforms
Commission (2006-2008) noted that
“it is ironical that there has been no sincere attempt
to restructure the Civil Service although more than
six hundred Committees and Commissions have
looked into different aspects of public administration
in the country…The Indian reform effort has been
unfailingly conservative, with limited impact…Civil
service reform in India has neither enhanced the
efficiency nor the accountability of the Civil Service
in any meaningful manner.”
25
8. That in 1997, the Conference of Chief Ministers of States,
convened by the Government of India to consider ways of
improving performance and integrity of the public service, had
recommended that the existing rules and regulations should be
amended within six months to enable exemplary prosecution and
removal of corrupt officials and the weeding out of staff of
doubtful integrity and that at the same time, a suitable
mechanism should be worked out to reward employees who do
good work. Since then, the Central Fifth Pay Commission (1997),
the Geethakrishnan Commission on Expenditure Reforms (2001),
the Surinder Nath Committee on Performance Evaluation (2003),
the P.C. Hota Committee on Civil Service Reform (2004) and the
Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2006-08) have all
produced voluminous Reports and recommendations on the
subject.
9. That these Reports contain many valuable recommendations.
While recommendations, especially those relating to emergent
operational matters have indeed been accepted by the
Government, the core recommendations, which have been
studied, discussed and commended for implementation by
successive Commissions and Committees have not been acted
upon in letter and spirit. Were this to be done, the Petitioners
are confident that there would be a substantial improvement in
the quality of governance in India.
26
10. That the Hota Committee and the Santhanam Committee have
recognized corruption as a major problem in the civil services.
That much of the deterioration in the standards of probity and
accountability within the civil service can be traced to the
practice of issuing and acting on verbal instructions or oral
orders which are not recorded. It should be made incumbent on
every civil servant to formally record all such instructions /
directions / orders / suggestions pertaining to the discharge of
his/her official duties which he/she receives, not only from
his/her administrative superiors but also from political
authorities, legislators, commercial and business interests and
other persons / quarters having interest or wielding influence.
The Santhanam Committee (1962) has specifically recommended
that “…there should be a system of keeping some sort of record
all interviews granted to accredited representatives…”. Rule 3(3)
of the All India Services Rules 1968 specifically mandates that
the direction “of the official superior shall ordinarily be in writing.
Where the issue of oral direction becomes unavoidable, the
official superior shall confirm it in writing immediately
thereafter”. This practice needs to be expanded and a written
record kept of all orders, instructions, directions and
suggestions from whichever quarters they emanate to ensure
accountability in the functioning of civil servants. True copy of
the relevant extracts of Santhanam Committee Report dated nil,
1963 is annexed herewith as Annexure P-1 (Page Nos. 51 to
27
76 ). True copy of the relevant extracts of All India Services
Rules 1968 is annexed herewith as Annexure P-2 (Page Nos.
77). True copy of the relevant extracts of Hota Committee
Report dated nil, July 2004 is annexed herewith as Annexure
P-3 (Page Nos. 78 to 93 ).
11. That the preservation of the integrity, fearlessness and
independence of the civil servant is an essential condition of the
parliamentary system of Government. While the formulation of
Government policy is the legitimate task of the Minister, the Civil
Servant is expected to advise him/her freely, frankly and
fearlessly at the stage of policy formulation. The Minister in turn
should not interfere in purely service matters such as postings
and transfers and should avoid any departures from the
approved policies to accommodate individual cases as a result of
political or other considerations.
12. That at present, the system of transfers, postings, promotions,
disciplinary and other personnel matters pertaining to the higher
civil services are ad-hoc and non-transparent. Transfers are
often used as instruments of reward and punishment, with
officials being frequently transferred on the whims and caprices,
as well as the personal needs, of local politicians and other
vested interests. Officers, especially those in the All India
Services serving in State Governments, have no stability or
security of tenure. Changes of Government invariably lead to
28
new rounds of transfers as the incoming group of political
leaders seeks to reward supporters and put its "own" staff in key
positions. Moreover, the „transfer industry‟ is backed by
entrenched and powerful vested interests, as frequent transfers
generate huge amounts of black money for corrupt officials and
politicians, both directly and indirectly.
13. That all Commissions and Committees dealing with
administrative reform have stressed the need for transfers at all
levels to be handled in a non-political, non-partisan, open and
transparent manner. A rational transfer policy should eliminate
the „transfer industry‟, do away with politicized transfers, curb
the overall incidence of transfers, remove uncertainty and imbibe
officers with a certain security of tenure in every post and should
be seen as being fair, objective and leading to career
development. The key element and indeed, the only effective
solution, is a guaranteed minimum and fixed tenure for officers
of the higher civil services. The Hota Committee had identified
the absence of a fixed tenure of officials as one of the most
important reasons for tardy implementation of government
policies and programmes, lack of accountability, waste of public
money and large-scale corruption. “Good administration is not
possible without continuity and intelligent administration is not
possible without local knowledge.” The Economic Administration
Reforms Commission (Jha Commission, 1986) also
recommended fixed tenure for civil servants, especially for the
29
appointments at the senior level. True copy of the relevant
portion from the Jha Commission dated nil 1986 is annexed
herewith as Annexure P-4 (Page Nos. 94 - 95).
14. That the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India
provides for a stipulated tenure for all officers on deputation to
the Government of India. The periods of tenure have been
prescribed for different levels; 3 years for Under Secretaries, 4
years for Deputy Secretaries, 5 years for Directors and Joint
Secretaries, and 3 years from the date of appointment as
Additional Secretary, subject to a minimum of 5 years and
maximum of 7 years of combined tenure as Joint Secretary /
Additional Secretary. While there is no fixed tenure for
Secretaries in general, the Cabinet Secretary, Foreign Secretary,
Home Secretary, Defence Secretary and the Directors of IB and
RAW have a minimum tenure of 2 years each. True copy of the
relevant extract from the Central Staffing Scheme dated nil,
1996 is annexed herewith as Annexure P-5(Page Nos. 96 -
98).
15. That the Conference of Chief Ministers (1997) had observed that
frequent and arbitrary transfer of public servants affects the
ability of the system to deliver services effectively to the people.
It recommended the constitution of Civil Services Boards in
different States presided over by the respective Chief Secretaries
to assist the political executive and streamline the policy of
30
transfers and promotions based on identifiable criteria.
Subsequently, some States have set up Civil Services or
Establishment Boards with the Chief Secretary as the Chairman
and other senior officials of the State as Members. However, as
the Hota Committee has observed, these Boards set up by
executive order in different States have failed to inspire
confidence as, more often than not, they have merely formalized
the wishes of their Chief Ministers in matters of transfer of
officials. Therefore the Petitioners seek direction for
establishment of such independent, neutral Civil Services Boards,
particularly for the States, which will be able to function without
outside interference, keeping in view the paramount importance
of preserving the integrity, fearlessness and independence of the
civil servant. Direct political control or direction in the
management of transfers, postings, promotions, inquiries,
disciplinary proceedings, rewards and punishments has adversely
affected the morale, capability, efficacy and morality of the civil
services. These matters need to be de-politicized and entrusted
to independent Civil Service Boards, which will closely monitor
and ensure accountability at all stages; regulate transfers in a
transparent and rational manner; protect the honest civil
servant; and identify and recommend punishments for those
who betray the public trust. This can best be achieved by
including in the Board retired civil servants and outside
individuals of eminence and unimpeachable integrity. While the
31
Board will function in an advisory capacity to the Chief Minister,
its recommendations should normally be binding; if they are not
accepted, a detailed order should be recorded and presented to
the concerned Legislature. True copy of the statement adopted
at the Conference of Chief Ministers on Effective and Responsive
Administration held on 24 May, 1997 is annexed herewith as
Annexure P-6 (Page Nos. 99 to 103).
16. That the Hota Committee was firmly of the view that the Civil
Services Board / Establishment Board, both in the States and at
the Centre, should be made statutory in character by enacting a
Civil Services Act. That when there is a move to prematurely
transfer an officer, a summary administrative inquiry should be
held to ascertain if the transfer is justified as a matter of public
policy. This should be conducted expeditiously by an officer
designated by the Civil Services Board. On receipt of the report,
the Civil Services Board shall advise the Chief Minister regarding
the justification for the transfer. Ordinarily the Chief Minister is
expected to agree with the recommendations of the Board as
transfer is a routine administrative matter. However, if he/she
does not do so, he/she shall be required to record his/her
reasons in writing. An Annual Report on all premature transfers
shall be laid before the State Legislature. As Hota Committee
report states “We are conscious that we are recommending a
statutory barrier to frequent transfer of senior officials but the
32
matter has come to such a pass that it requires a statutory
remedy.”
17. That the Petitioners are of the view that there should be an
independent, high-powered and statutory Civil Services Board in
each State which should process all proposals of postings and
transfers. The recommendations of such a board must normally
be binding on the Government. If, for any reason, the
Government decides not to implement the recommendations, it
must pass a self-contained order on the subject and place a
statement before the Legislature. The Board may be chaired by
the Chief Secretary with senior retired officers, and other
eminent persons as members. Secretary (Services) of the
General Administration Department may serve as the Secretary
of the Board. The Secretary and the Head of the Department of
each Department may be permanent invitees at the meetings of
the Board at which their proposals are considered. The transfer
policy should ensure that an officer has a fixed term of 3 to 5
years, depending on his/her seniority, and is thus assured of
stability of tenure.
18. That at least for higher ranks of the civil services e.g. Chief
Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP), postings may be
made contractual for a fixed period, and officers be monetarily
compensated if they are removed before the period of the
contract without their consent or explanation. Whenever the
33
Cabinet Secretary or Chief Secretary or DGP is proposed to be
shifted peremptorily before completion of his/her term and/or
retirement, a statement giving reasons should be recorded on
the file and placed on the table of the legislature/parliament.
19. That the powers of transfers of all Class II officers should be
with the Head of Department and not assumed, as is currently
the case in many State Governments, by Secretariat
Departments acting at the behest of their Ministers. Government
should deal with transfers of only (Head of Departments) HODs
and Additional HODs, or at the most of Class I officers. The
Government‟s role is policy making and objective impact
assessment and to ensure that the transfer policy as laid down is
followed in the field offices. That the Petitioners request this
Hon‟ble Court to issue a direction to the Union Government to
introduce a rational and transparent policy on transfers,
appointments, promotions and other personnel matters and to
make it binding on the State Governments. In addition to the
constitution of an independent Civil Services Board, the policy
should stipulate that transfer should not be ordered as
punishment; if an employee is found remiss in his/her duties, he
/she should be proceeded against departmentally.
20. That the implementation of civil service reforms and institution
of a rational and transparent policy on transfers would go a long
way in insulating civil servants from wrongful and extra-legal
34
pressure from the political establishment. In addition, an effort
should be made to imbibe civil servants with the core values of
integrity, objectivity, merit and excellence which form the basic
framework of the permanent civil service. In this context, both
the Hota Committee and the Second Administrative Reforms
Commission had recommended that this could best be done by
Statute through the adoption of a comprehensive Civil Services
Act which would allow the Legislature to unambiguously
articulate the core principles and standards of public service,
ethical values and culture expected of the Civil Service. A similar
recommendation has been given by the Fifth Central Pay
Commission. True copy of the relevant extract 10th Report of the
Second Administrative Reforms Commission dated nil is annexed
herewith as Annexure P-7(Page Nos. 104 - 119).
21. That the Petitioners propose some immediate specific measures
as a starting point:-
a. The management of transfers, postings, inquiries, the
process of promotion, reward, punishment, and
disciplinary matters relating to civil servants needs to be
de-politicized. All the above functions need to be entrusted
to an independent Civil Service Board or Commission, both
at the Centre and in the States. Direct political control or
direction in these matters has played havoc on the morale,
capability, efficacy and morality of the civil services. The
proposed Board/ Commission will also closely monitor
accountability at all stages, which is an imperative for
good governance. The proposed Board / Commission
35
should be independent of direct influence from the
political machinery. Towards this, it should comprise of,
apart from senior serving officials, retired civil servants of
impeccable integrity
[based on recommendations by the Hota Committee, 2004
(para 5.09, para 5.11, Main Recommendations No.38); the
2nd Administrative Reforms Commission, 2008 (10th
Report, para 9.8); the statement adopted at the
Conference of Chief Ministers on Effective and Responsive
Administration, 1997];
b. All civil servants at all levels need to be given a fixed
tenure of minimum three years in each post, to foster
freedom and independence in action (consistent with
accountability and performance). Any premature transfer
should specifically be authorized by the Civil Service
Board/ Commission, on specific circumstances to be
brought out in writing
[based on recommendations by Jha Commission 1986
(para 7.2); Central Staffing Scheme 1996 (para 17.01,
para 17.02, para 17.03, para 17.12), the 2nd
Administrative Reforms Commission, 2008 (10th Report,
para 8.7, para 9.8, para 17.5); Hota Committee Report,
2004 (Main Recommendations No.39)];
c. Much of the deterioration in the standards of probity and
accountability within the civil service can be traced to the
practice of issuing and acting on verbal instructions or oral
orders which are not recorded. It should be made
incumbent on every civil servant to formally record all
such instructions / directions / orders / suggestions which
he/she receives, not only from his/her direct
administrative superiors but also from political authorities,
legislators, commercial and business interests and other
36
persons / quarters having interest, wielding influence or
purporting to represent those in authority. This should be
made obligatory by amending service rules or through
legislation
[based on the principles recognised by Rule 3(3)(ii)(iii) of
the All India Services Conduct Rule 1968 and as implicitly
recognized by the Santhanam Committee Report, 1962
(section 6, sub-para 33[iii])].
22. That the Petitioners aver that the proposals stated above are
unexceptionable in principle; these are normally taken for
granted in a well-functioning democracy. These very
recommendations have been made in one form or another by
successive administrative reforms commissions/ committees. The
proposal to establish a Civil Service Board reportedly is under the
consideration of the Central Government, in respect of the
Centre. It is not only essential to get this implemented in the
Centre at an early date, but also create similar mechanisms in
each State. These Boards / Commissions should be made fully
independent, and allowed to function freely, without external
interference - independent membership of knowledgeable,
experienced persons in such bodies is a sine qua non.
23. That the recommendation on stability of tenure has been
recommended by successive committees which have gone into
administrative reforms. The proposal relating to formal recording
of oral instructions from higher authorities is already implicitly
37
accepted under Rule 3(3)(ii)(iii) of the All India Services Conduct
Rule 1968, which read:
“3(3) (ii) The direction of the official superior shall
ordinarily be in writing. Where the issue of oral direction
becomes unavoidable, the official superior shall confirm it
in writing immediately thereafter.
(iii) A member of the Service who has received oral
direction from his official superior shall seek confirmation
of the same in writing, as early as possible and in such
case, it shall be the duty of the official superior to confirm
the direction in writing.”
The existing provision relates to oral instructions/ directions
from direct official superior; the present proposal, taking
current practices into account, merely extends the concept to
cover informal control mechanisms which currently subvert
the process of good administration.
24. That the Petitioners have approached the current Cabinet
Secretary, Secretary Personnel, the Chief Vigilance
Commissioner, as well as Law Minister to highlight these issues
and the response received from them has been a series of
proposed cosmetic measures without any time bound
commitment. Therefore the Petitioners are approaching this
Hon‟ble Court as the last resort. True copies of the letters dated
17.5.2010, 30.6.2010, 25.8.2010 between Petitioner No.1 and
Cabinet Secretary, Government of India is annexed herewith as
38
Annexure P-8(Colly) (Page Nos. 120 - 142 ). True copies
of the letters dated 17.5.2010, 09.7.2010, 25.8.2010 between
Petitioner No.1 and Secretary Personnel, Government of India is
annexed herewith as Annexure P-9(Colly) Page Nos. 143-
169 ). True copy of the letters dated 17.5.2010 and 2.8.2010
between Petitioner No.1 and Chief Vigilance Commissioner
(CVC), Government of India is annexed herewith as Annexure
P-10(Colly). (Page Nos. 170 - 183 ). True copy of the letters
dated 17.5.2010 and 24.5.2010 between the Petitioner No.1 and
Union Law Minister, Government of India is annexed herewith as
Annexure P-11 (Colly) (Page Nos. 184 - 194 )
25. That the Cabinet Secretary and the Secretary Personnel in their
responses have mentioned the proposed „Civil Services
Standards, Performance and Accountability Bill 2010‟ which
envisages the establishment of Central Civil Services Authority as
recommended by the Second Administrative Reforms
Commission (2nd ARC). However, there is no time-bound
commitment about the implementation of these proposals. It is
not clear whether this proposed law provides for the
establishment of an independent Civil Services Authority at the
State level.
26. That it is imperative that such an independent Authority has to
be established in each State, where the need is much greater
than at the Centre. Indeed the Authority needs to have full
39
control over all matters relating to transfer, postings, inquiries
and all service matters of officers at all levels, except the senior
most level.
27. That the Cabinet Secretary has indicated that the Union
Government has issued notifications to providing two years
minimum tenure for all IAS Cadre posts in respect of only 13
States which have agreed with this proposal. The Cabinet
Secretary expresses the limitation faced by the Union in
implementing these reforms at the State level. He states: “since
State Governments control administrations within their
jurisdiction in a federal polity, the Government of India can only
play an advisory role. We have been endeavouring to persuade
the States to ensure the stability of tenure for officers with
mixed results. While in some States there is positive forward
movement, other States have not been enthusiastic.”
28. That various Committee Reports have highlighted the fact that
the civil servants are enticed or coerced to meet the private
needs of the politician. This malaise is even more strongly
prevalent in the States, than in the Centre; the field officers
being more vulnerable than the secretariat officials. Unless the
reforms are implemented at the State level any step by the
Union would be purely cosmetic, and would not contribute to
stemming the continuing steep decline in governance standards.
The Government of India will have to ensure minimum tenure,
40
not just in the Centre but also more importantly, in the States.
This is a key necessity, to loosen the day-to-day control
exercised by the politicians on the implementation decision-
making process of the field officials, without which governance
will not improve. Unless the Centre finds a viable solution in this
regard, much of the exercise will be superficial, and lacking in
substance. This recommendation is at least 50 years old, and
has been repeated by almost every reform
Commission/Committee.
29. That the Petitioners are of the view that these steps will go a
long way in creating confidence in the public mind that the
government is indeed committed to eradicating corruption.
30. That no other petition has been filed in any High Court or this
Hon‟ble Court challenging the resolution and the order impugned
herein.
31. That the Petitioner files the present Writ Petition on the following
amongst other grounds which are without prejudice to one
another and to the submissions already made herein above.
GROUNDS
i. For that the gravity of problems arising from poor governance
and non-implementation of reforms is enormous, as has been
demonstrated by the Petitioners, being experienced persons in
various sectors of public administration and governance in this
41
country, through the documents placed on record and
submissions made above, underscoring the need for reform of
governance in key areas.
ii. For that the submissions contained hereinabove and the
documents annexed herewith provide a workable blueprint for
achieving significant strides in administrative reform and
improvement in governance.
iii. For that the following recommendations have already been
recognized in principle and recommended by various committees
established by the Government:
creation of an independent Civil Service Board or
Commission, both at the Centre and in each State.
[based on recommendations by the Hota Committee,
2004 (para 5.09, para 5.11, Main Recommendations
No.38); the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission,
2008 (10th Report, para 9.8); the statement adopted
at the Conference of Chief Ministers on Effective and
Responsive Administration, 1997];
fixed tenure for civil servants ensuring stability.
[based on recommendations by Jha Commission 1986
(para 7.2); Central Staffing Scheme 1996 (para 17.01,
para 17.02, para 17.03, para 17.12), the 2nd
Administrative Reforms Commission, 2008 (10th
Report, para 8.7, para 9.8, para 17.5); Hota Committee
Report, 2004 (Main Recommendations No.39)];
requirement by every civil servant to formally record all
such instructions / directions / orders / suggestions
42
which he receives, not only from his administrative
superiors but also from political authorities, legislators,
commercial and business interests and other persons /
quarters having interest, wielding influence or
purporting to represent those in authority.
[based on the principles recognised by Rule 3(3)(ii)(iii)
of the All India Services Conduct Rule 1968 and as
implicitly recognized by the Santhanam Committee
Report, 1962 (section 6, sub-para 33[iii])].
iv. For that the prayers sought in the present Petition essentially
seek implementation of previous judgments of this Hon‟ble Court
and recommendations made by high-powered Committees set
up to examine the problems in areas of governance, and are as
such within the powers of this Hon‟ble Court.
v. For that the Petitioners have sought to identify significant
recommendations made repeatedly by different Commissions/
Committees with regard to each of these elements and highlight
the most necessary, urgent and achievable measures of
administrative reform.
vi. For that this Hon'ble Court has previously taken cognizance of
the imperative need for good governance. This Hon‟ble Court
has declared in Dev Dutt v Union of India (2008) 8 SCC 725 that
transparency in public administration and good governance are
new components of natural justice. Further, in State of Bihar v
Upendra Narayan Singh, (2009) 5 SCC 65, this Hon‟ble Court has
recognized and proceeded against the phenomenon of the „spoils
43
system‟ in the context of public employment, especially within
the domain of the Public Service Commissions.
vii. For that this Honorable court in Prakash Singh v Union of India
(2006) 8 SCC 1, took cognizance of the phenomenon of the non-
implementation of recommendations of Commissions. The Court
noted that given the urgent need for the preservation and
strengthening of the rule of law, various commissions and
committees had made the same or similar recommendations,
and that total uncertainty as to when police reforms would be
introduced, and given that they had not been implemented,
framed guidelines that would stay in place till appropriate
legislation was passed.
viii. For that the petitioners seek that this Hon‟ble Court direct the
implementation of specific recommendations of the Hota
Committee, the Santhanam Committee and the Second
Administrative Reforms Report, Conference of Chief Ministers,
and the Economic Administration Reforms Commission, which
would thereby entail much needed and recommended reforms in
the context of public administration.
ix. For that Article 32 read with Article 142 of the Constitution
empowers this Honorable Court to issue such directions, as may
be necessary to do complete justice.
44
x. For that this Hon‟ble Court has issued mandamus through
guidelines where no statutory framework exists. In Vineet Narain
v. Union of India (1998) 1 SCC 226 it was observed
“ it is the duty of the executive to fill the vacuum by
executive orders because its field is coterminous with that of
the legislature, and where there is inaction even by the
executive, for whatever reason, the judiciary must step in, in
exercise of its constitutional obligations under the aforesaid
provisions to provide a solution till such time as the
legislature acts to perform its role by enacting proper
legislation to cover the field.” (pr.52)
xi. For that this Hon‟ble Court has issued similar guidelines in
several cases where there was no statutory framework. In
Lakshmi Kant Pandey v. Union of India, (1984) 2 SCC 244
guidelines for adoption of minor children by foreigners were laid
down. In Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, (1997) 6 SCC 241
guidelines were laid down to set up a mechanism to address the
issue of sexual harassment at the workplace. In Vineet Narain v.
Union of India, (1998) 1 SCC 226 directions were issued to
ensure the independence of the Vigilance Commission. In Erach
Sam Kanga v. Union of India WP No.2632 of 1978 a Constitution
Bench laid down certain guidelines relating to the Emigration
Act. This Hon‟ble Court issued guidelines to maintain the
independence of judiciary in K. Veeraswami v. Union of India,
(1991) 3 SCC. In Union Carbide Corporation v. Union of India,
(1991) 4 SCC 584 guidelines were issued for disbursement of
45
amounts in compensation. In Delhi Judicial Service Assn. v. State
of Gujarat, (1991) 4 SCC 406 guidelines were laid down to be
followed in case of arrest and detention of a Judicial Officer. In
Common Cause v. Union of India, (1996) 1 SCC 753 directions
were issued for revamping the system of blood banks in the
country. This Hon‟ble Court in Supreme Court Advocates-on-
Record Association v. Union of India; (1993) 4 SCC 441 laid
down guidelines and norms for the appointment and transfer of
High Court judges. In Vishwa Jagriti Mission v. Central
Government, (2001) 6 SCC 577 guidelines were laid down to
curb ragging in educational institutions. Recently, in Destruction
of Public & Private Properties v. State of A.P., (2009) 5 SCC 212
detailed guidelines were issued to assess damage to public
property during demonstrations and for the effective
implementation of the Prevention of Destruction and Loss of
Property Act. In 2010 this Hon‟ble Court directed the Central
Government to set up an Armed Forces Grievances Redressal
Commission to look into grievances by serving or former
members of Armed Forces or their widows or family members
and also to frame and recommend the Central Government a
scheme for proper rehabilitation of ex-armed forces personnel
who retired at a relatively young age. This Hon‟ble Court laid
down in detail the composition, term, and seat of this
Commission.
46
xii. For that these reforms need to be implemented with urgency at
the State level as the malaise of political intervention in the
functioning of civil servants is more strongly prevalent in the
States and there is a need to insulate the civil servants from all
political influences.
xiii. For that the Cabinet Secretary has highlighted the limitations
faced by the Union to implement these reforms at the State
level. Unless the reforms are implemented at the State level any
step by the Union would be purely cosmetic, and would not
contribute to stemming the continuing steep decline in
governance standards. This Hon‟ble Court may direct the
implementation of these specific recommendations at the State
level.
xiv. For that there is a well-documented connection between an
efficient, responsive and sensitized system of governance and
the quality of life of citizens on various parameters, including
education, health, income levels, economic and political
accountability.
xv. For that the civil service is the principal instrument of
governance and implementation of various policies and
programmes and that the distinction between the role of elected
representatives and the political establishment in framing laws
and policies and that of the permanent civil service in
47
implementing them has become blurred and distorted in
practice.
xvi. For that the current situation and practices have severe adverse
effects on the quality of governance. Bad governance impacts
the quality of life which has been recognised to be a part of the
right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
xvii. For that poor governance results in the restriction and denial of
the Rights of citizens, including Fundamental Rights and those
envisaged under the Directive Principles of State Policy.
xviii. For that the space for arbitrariness in governmental action which
impacts the functioning of the bureaucracy violates Article 14.
And that fairness and transparency in the context of public
administration is integral to the equality demands of equality as
protected by the Constitution.
xix. For that reform in the governance and administration would
directly strengthen the fundamental rights of the people and in
large measure achieve the vision set forth in the Directive
Principles of State Policy that are meant to guide and inform the
process of governance.
PRAYER
In the premises set forth above, the Petitioner prays that this Hon‟ble
Court may be pleased to:
48
i. Issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other
appropriate writ, order or direction requiring the Respondents
to create an independent Civil Service Board or Commission,
both at the Centre and the State based on recommendations
by the Hota Committee, 2004 (para 5.09, para 5.11, Main
Recommendations No.38); the 2nd Administrative Reforms
Commission, 2008 (10th Report, para 9.8); the statement
adopted at the Conference of Chief Ministers on Effective and
Responsive Administration, 1997;
ii. Issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other
appropriate writ, order or direction requiring the Respondents
to fix tenure for civil servants ensuring stability based on
recommendations by Jha Commission 1986 (para 7.2);
Central Staffing Scheme 1996 (para 17.01, para 17.02, para
17.03, para 17.12), the 2nd Administrative Reforms
Commission, 2008 (10th Report, para 8.7, para 9.8, para
17.5); Hota Committee Report, 2004 (Main Recommendations
No.39);
iii. Issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other
appropriate writ, order or direction requiring the Respondents
to mandate that every civil servant formally record all such
instructions / directions / orders / suggestions which he/she
receives, not only from his/her administrative superiors but
also from political authorities, legislators, commercial and
49
business interests and other persons / quarters having
interest, wielding influence or purporting to represent those
in authority based on the principles recognised by Rule
3(3)(ii)(iii) of the All India Services Conduct Rule 1968 and as
implicitly recognized by the Santhanam Committee Report,
1962 (section 6, sub-para 33[iii])
iv. Pass any other or such further order or orders as may be
deemed fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the
present case.
DRAWN BY: MENAKA GURUSWAMY
FILED BY
NIKHIL NAYYAR ADVOCATE FOR THE PETITIONER
DRAWN ON: 1.2.2011 FILED ON: .2.2011.
50
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. OF 2011
T.S.R. Subramanian & Others ..Petitioners
Versus Union of India & Others .. Respondents
AFFIDAVIT
I, .T.S.R. Subramanian s/o T.S. Sitapati, aged 72 years, resident
of “Gurukripa”, 74, Sector 15-A, NOIDA-201301, presently at New
Delhi do hereby solemnly affirm and state as under:
1. That I am Petitioner No.1 and as such am conversant with the
facts and circumstances of the case and am competent to swear
to this affidavit.
2. That the contents of the List of Dates from pages B to T and
those of paras 1-7, 11-12 and 21-30 of the writ petition are facts
true to my knowledge, and those of paras 8-10 and 13-20 are
based on information which I believe it to be true and correct
and those of para 31 are grounds are based on legal advice
received and believed to be true and correct.
3. That the annexures filed along with Writ Petition are true copies
of their respective originals.
DEPONENT
VERIFICATION
Verified at New Delhi on this 2nd day of February 2011 that the
contents of the present affidavit are true and correct and nothing
material has been concealed therefrom.
DEPONENT
51
ANNEXURE P-1
RELEVANT EXTRACT FROM SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PREVENTION OF
CORRUPTION, 1962 (K. SANTHANAM COMMITTEE)
Section 4:
1. The existing rules governing the conduct of Government
servants did not make any radical changes in the rules that were
in force prior to the commencement of the Constitution with the
result that in respect of many matters the rules were either
silent or inadequate.
2. The rules pertaining to integrity should be uniform.
3. The more important changes recommended are:
(1) A duty has been cast on Government servants holding
supervisory posts to keep a watchful eye on the integrity of the
staff working under them.
(2) Every Government servant should take full responsibility for his
actions and orders, except where he acts under the directions of
his official superior.
(3) The conduct expected of every Government servant in case of
conflict between public duty and private interest has been clearly
stated in Rule 3(A) which brings out some of the points that
were hitherto implied but left unsaid.
52
(4) Rule 10 deals with the question of receipt of gifts and states the
position more precisely and also liberalizes the existing rules so
as to prevent too much interference in private life. The financial
limits have been suitably modified.
(5) Government servants should submit periodically a complete
statement of their assets and liabilities instead of the annual
immovable property statements which have been found to serve
no useful purpose. In these periodical statements the value of
movable property except articles of daily use, like clothes,
utensils, crockery and books should be stated including the value
of jewellery.
4. The need for continuance of the exemptions granted in 1959 to
industrial employees drawing a pay of Rs. 5001- or less and
holding non-gazetted posts may be re-examined and in the
meantime the exemptions may continue to be in force.
5. The rules may apply to Government servants appointed to any
civil service or post in connection with the affairs of the Union.
6. While the manner of promulgation of the rules is a matter of
detail any modification or liberalization of the rules should be
made only in consultation with the Central Vigilance
Commission and with the concurrence of the Ministry of
Home Affairs.
53
Section 5
7. The Constitutional protection given to Government servants by
Article 311 which limits the doctrine of pleasure was first given
only by the Government of India Act, 1935.
8. Judicial interpretation of Article 311 of the Constitution has
resulted in making disciplinary proceedings highly involved.
9. The latest amendment of Article 311 has not improved the
position. It would not be an unreasonable classification to treat
disciplinary proceedings involving charges of bribery, corruption
and lack of integrity as a separate category and to provide for a
simplified procedure. Article 314 should not come in the way of
dealing effectively with members of the former Secretary of
States Services. In such cases the jurisdiction of courts should
be limited.
Another clause somewhat on the following lines may be added
as Clause (4) to Article 311:-
"Notwithstanding anything contained in Parts 111, IV, VI
and XIV of the Constitution, Parliament may, by law,
regulate all matters relating to maintenance of integrity
and honesty in the services and posts under the Union and
States,
including the jurisdiction of Courts in respect of such
matters".
54
The power to legislate in this behalf should be added as an
item in List I of Schedule VII of the Constitution.
10. In view of the Constitutional requirements and judicial
pronouncements it is not possible to radically simplify the
procedure unless the Constitution is suitably amended.
11. The more important of the recommendations contained in the
interim report dated August 23, 1963 (Annexure IV) are:-
(i) There should be only one set of Discipline and Appeal Rules in
respect of Government servants serving in connection with the
affairs of the Union or appointed by the Union Government.
The definition of the term “Government servant” has
therefore been enlarged to include members of the All India
Services;
(ii) The President may impose any of the prescribed penalties and
institute disciplinary proceedings against any Government
servant including a member of the All-India Service (Rule 8) or
direct a disciplinary authority to institute such proceedings [Rule
9(1)];
(iii) The Central Government may institute proceedings against a
member of an All-India Service if the circumstances of the case
are such that the Central Government is satisfied that it would
55
be in public interest to institute such proceedings provided that
before doing so the Central Government shall consult the State
Government;
(iv) The power to institute departmental proceedings has been given
to the President, specified disciplinary authorities and such other
authorities as may be empowered by the President by general or
special order. (This last recommendation was made in view of
the recommendation of the Committee that the Directorate of
Vigilance of the Central Vigilance Commission should have the
power to determine the nature of disciplinary proceedings to be
initiated and to initiate, conduct and complete such proceedings.
Though in the scheme of the Central Vigilance Commission, as
accepted by the Government, the power to
initiate, conduct and complete such proceedings has not been
given to the Central Vigilance Commission, the provisions made
in the rules may be allowed to stand).
(v) The penalties of withholding or withdrawing in full or in part the
pension which can now be imposed under Civil Services
Regulation 351(A) and Rule 8 of the All India Services (Death-
cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958 have been included in the
categories of penalties prescribed under Discipline and Appeal
Rules and the procedure for imposing such penalties has been
made part of the
Discipline and Appeal Rules.
56
(vi) The requirement of the accused officer submitting a written
statement of defence after the framing of charges has been
dispensed with.
(vii) The rules relating to suspension, regulation of the period of
absence from duty after reinstatement of an officer who had
been dismissed, removed or suspended provide for removal of
certain difficulties that have arisen out of some recent
pronouncements of the courts.
(viii) The requirement of submitting an appeal or a memorial through
the authority which passed the order which is subject matter of
the appeal or memorial has been dispensed with to minimize
delay.
12. The Government should have the power to compulsorily retire a
Government servant who has completed 25 years of qualifying
service or has attained 50 years of age without giving any
reason and without any liability for special compensation. There
should be a committee with the Central Vigilance Commissioner
as the Chairman and two Secretaries to Government as
members to review the cases of all gazetted officers who are
due to complete 25 years of qualifying service or to attain 50
gears of age during the ensuing year and recommend the names
of the officers who are to be compulsorily retired.
57
There should be one or more committees, State-wise or
Department-wise, as may be convenient, with a nominee of the
Central Vigilance Commissioner as the Chairman of each
Committee to review such cases in regard to non-gazetted
employees and make appropriate recommendations.
13. The Central Government should have the power to take action
under Rule 17 (as amended in May 19'63) and Rule 20 of the All
India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules; 1958,
after consultation with the State Government concerned.
Section 6:
14. Preventive measures, administrative, legal, social, economic and
educative, should be carefully planned and effectively
implemented.
15. A systematic and thorough review of the laws, rules, procedures
and practices should be undertaken for the purpose of listing (a)
discretionary powers (b) levels at which such powers are
exercised (c) the manner of exercise of such powers (d) the
control exercised within the hierarchy over the exercise of such
powers (e) the points at which citizens come into contact with
the Ministry/Department and the purposes for which they do so.
16. A thorough study should be made in respect of each Ministry/
Department/undertaking of the extent, the possible scope and
58
modes of corruption, preventive and the remedial measures
prescribed, if any, and their effectiveness. Such studies should
be started on a priority basis in respect of each
Ministry/Department/undertaking and the Central Vigilance
Commission should also pay attention to this important piece of
work for which purpose Government may provide the necessary
staff and other facilities.
17. Serious thought should be given as to how trade associations or
their representatives could be associated in the matter of
granting licenses and allocation of scarce goods. Membership of
a recognized trade organization should be a necessary condition
of eligibility for obtaining a license or a permit. The organization
should screen the capacity of the applicants, their past
performance and conduct and make recommendations to the
licensing authority. These organizations may also be usefully
associated in investigating modes of misuse and mis-utilisation
of goods obtained under license and modes of manipulation of
prescribed rules, procedures and forms for obtaining undeserved
advantage.
18. Administrative delay must be reduced to the utmost extent
possible and firm action should be taken to eliminate all such
causes of delays as provide scope for corrupt practices.
(a) Each Ministry/Department/undertaking should immediately
undertake a review of all existing procedures and practices to
59
find out the cause of delay, the points at which delay occurs and
to devise suitable steps to minimise thepossibility of delay.
(b) Time-limits should be prescribed, if not already done, for dealing
with receipts, files etc., and these should be strictly enforced.
Superior officers should consider it their responsibility to find out
whether in any particular matter there has been any avoidable
delay and call the persons responsible for the delay to account.
(c) All notings at the level lower than that of Under Secretaries
should be avoided. The responsibility of the Section should be
only that of putting up previous papers and precedents. This
procedure should be strictly observed in Ministries/Departments
which have to deal with the grant of licenses or permits of
various kinds.
(d) The levels at which substantive decision could be taken should
be prescribed and any attempt to involve as many as possible
should be discouraged and dealt with severely, if found to be
persisted in.
19. In all those fields where Government interferes to regulate and
control there is scope for abuse. It would be desirable for each
Ministry/Department to undertake a review of the regulatory
functions which are its responsibility and also examine whether
all of them are necessary and whether the manner of discharge
60
of those functions and of the exercise of powers of control are
capable of improvement.
20. Discretionary powers are exercised by different categories of
Government servants all of whom are not endowed with a high
sense of dedication and integrity in equal measure. While it
would not be possible to completely eliminate discretion it should
be possible to devise a system of administration which would
reduce to the minimum, even if there is a seeming loss of
perfection, the need for exercise of personal discretion
consistently with efficiency and speedy disposal of public
business. Various methods of control devised in the more
advanced countries should be studied and a suitable system of
control should be devised keeping in view the difficulties that
may arise on account of the vastness of our country and the
basic principles which are enshrined in our Constitution and
jurisprudence.
21. As many of the citizens of our country who have to seek the help
of the administration in many matters are not equipped or
trained, they find it necessary to seek the assistance of touts
and intermediaries. A serious attempt should be made to
educate the citizens in regard to such matters and also make
suitable arrangements which would provide an easy access to
administration without the intervention of touts and
intermediaries.
61
22. It may be worthwhile in the country‟s interest to examine
whether the categories of officials who have to exercise
considerable discretion in matters relating to taxation, issue of
valuable permits and licenses, or otherwise deal with matters
which require high degree of integrity, should not be given
special attention regarding status and emoluments. Undue
economy in the number of officers is not desirable. It would be
worthwhile to review the proportion of direct recruits and
promotees in the various services as there is a general belief (we
do not fully endorse any sweeping generalization on this point)
that the standard of integrity of direct recruits is comparatively
higher.
23. Housing and medical facilities for the Government servant and
his family and facilities for the education of his children should
be provided. Till such time as Government is able to construct
the required accommodation houses should be requisitioned or
taken on lease and let to the Government servants.
Accommodation should, to the extent possible, be in colonies.
24. Informal codes of conduct for different categories of
Government servants working in Ministries/Departments dealing
with the economic affairs of the country and which spend large
sums of monies on construction and purchases should be
compiled regarding participation in entertainment and availing
themselves of other facilities from those who may have or are
62
likely to have official dealings with them. The example must be
set by superior officers.
25. Every officer of superior status under whom a number of
Gazetted officers are working directly should take steps to
ascertain personally whether there is any reason to doubt or
suspect the integrity of any of these officers.
26. Some of the other preventive measures are:-
(i) Great care should be exercised in selecting officers for
appointment to high administrative posts. Only those whose
integrity is above board should be appointed to these posts.
(ii) At the time of making selections from Non-Gazetted to Gazetted
ranks for the first time all those whose integrity is doubtful
should be eliminated.
(iii) Every officer whose duty is to sponsor a name for promotion
should be required to record a certificate that he had seen the
record of service of the Government servant! and he is satisfied
that the Government servant is a man of integrity.
(iv) Exigencies of public service require grant of extension or re-
employment of Government servants who have attained the age
of' superannuation and are about to retire or retired. Such
servants are also employed in the public sector undertakings.
We recommend that an essential condition for the grant of
63
extension or re-employment should be that the person
concerned has had a good reputation for integrity and honesty.
If this condition is not fulfilled the person concerned should not
be considered eligible for grant of extension or re-employment.
(v) A good deal of harm is done by vague talk about Corruption.
This can be reduced only if there are agencies which a person
with a genuine complaint can approach for redress, with the
assurance that he will be fully protected and that prompt and
adequate action will be taken where found justified. The Central
Vigilance Commission and the Vigilance organization should be
able to meet this need in matters relating to complaints of
corruption, harassment. etc. It is essential that bona fide
complainants should be protected from harassment or
victimization. The Ministry of Home Affairs should consider itself
as having a special responsibility in this regard.
(vi) Enquiry-cum-Reception Offices should be established in all
Ministries/ Departments which deal with licenses/ permits and to
which members of the public frequently go. All visitors should
enter their names and the purpose of their visit in a register to
be kept at the Reception Office.
(vii) Steps should be taken to prevent sale of information. One of the
causes of this type of corruption is the undue secrecy maintained
in regard to all types of matters in respect of which it is not
64
necessary to do so. A clear distinction should be made as to
what information should be treated as “secret” and what should
be made freely available to the public. Any member of the public
who wants to have information of the latter category should be
able to approach some specified officer in each
Ministry/Department/undertaking for that purpose and get what
he wants.
27. Difficulties are experienced in obtaining the necessary forms
required to be submitted for obtaining licenses/permits etc.
Arrangements should be made for easy supply of forms whether
free or on payment.
28. There is a column in the annual confidential report regarding
every public servant where the superior officer has to comment
on his integrity. In cases where the reporting officer is not in a
position to make a positive report about integrity he should leave
the column blank and submit a secret report if he has reasons to
doubt the integrity of the officer on whom he is reporting stating
the reasons for his suspicions, The Government or the heads of
Department who receive such secret reports should take suitable
steps to find out the correctness or otherwise of the report.
29. There should be a complete ban against Government servants
accepting private commercial and industrial employment for two
years after retirement. Reasons have been given in the interim
report dated 20ih December, 1963 (Annexure V).
65
30. The existence of large amounts of unaccounted black money is a
major source of corruption.
31. There is no justification to treat income-tax returns and
assessments as secret. Publication of such returns and
assessments would have a salutary effect on those persons in
business and professions who are inclined to take advantage of
secrecy provisions to evade income-tax.
32. To buy and sell properties at prices much greater than those
recorded in the conveyance deeds has become a common
method of cheating the Central Government of income-tax and
other taxes and the State Government of the stamp duty and a
convenient method of transferring black money. If, in some
manner, the Central and State Governments, or some special
corporations set up for the purpose can be empowered to step
in and acquire such properties at the stated value, or even at a
small premium when it is considered that the properties have
been deliberately under-valued, it will strike a blow against black
money. The habit of charging “pugri” or “premium” for renting
houses and flats is a similar source of corruption for which some
drastic steps have to be taken.
33. (i) No official should have any dealings with a person claiming to
act on behalf of, a business or industrial house or an individual
unless he is properly accredited, and is approved by the
Department, etc. concerned. Such a procedure will keep out
66
persons with unsavoury antecedents or reputation. There
should, of course, be no restriction on the proprietor or
manager, etc. of the firm or the applicant himself approaching
the authorities.
(ii) Even the accredited representatives should not be allowed to
see officers below a specified level-the level being specified in
each organization after taking into consideration the functions of
the organization, the volume and nature of the work to be
attended to, and the structure of the organization. However,
care should be taken to limit permissible contacts to levels at
which the chances of corruption are considered to be small. This
would often mean that no contact would be permitted at the
level of subordinate officers.
(iii) There should be a system of keeping some sort of record of
all interviews granted to accredited representatives.
(iv) There should be a fairly senior officer designated in each
Department to which an applicant etc. may go if his case is
being unreasonably delayed. It is necessary that a proper
procedure should be devised in consultation with the Central
Vigilance Commission for accrediting arid approval by the
Department. Before granting approval the antecedents of the
person proposed to be accredited should, if possible, be verified.
In any case no person who is not definitely employed by an
67
established undertaking, who will be responsible for his contact
and actions, should be approved.
34. Officers belonging to prescribed categories who have to deal
with these representatives should maintain a regular diary of all
interviews and discussions with the registered representatives
whether it takes place in the office or at home. The general
practice should be that such interviews should be in the office
and if it takes place at home, reasons should be recorded. Any
business or discussion which is not so recorded should be
deemed to be irregular conduct, of which serious notice should
be taken by the superiors.
35. Companies and businessmen should be obliged to keep detailed
accounts of the expenditure in their expense account. Whenever
an income-tax officer feels that amounts have been spent for
entertaining high officials, or other purposes for which
satisfactory explanation is not forthcoming, it should be his duty
to refer the matter to the Chief Vigilance Officers in the
department concerned. If there is any legal difficulty for passing
on such information, under the present law, it should be
removed.
36. It will be desirable to create a special cell in the Home Ministry
consisting of representatives from All India Radio, Press
Information Bureau and the Films Division to evolve effective
propaganda and publicity measures. Representatives of the
68
press may also be associated. The general principles to be
followed are: -
There should be no publicity at the time of investigation or
during departmental inquiry, but effective and widespread
publicity to cases resulting in dismissal, removal or compulsory
retirement. should be given. In cases of prosecutions before
courts, important cases will in the ordinary course be given
publicity by the press. What is required is to ensure that true
facts and arguments are available to those who edit the cases.
The Cell proposed should offer to provide the necessary
assistance. A periodical summary, say once in three months, of
important cases dealt with either by departmental inquiries or
prosecutions in courts should be supplied to the press. It may
also be hoped that the report of the Vigilance Commission which
will be placed before Parliament will attract wide publicity.
Section 7
37. The Indian Penal Code does not deal in any satisfactory manner
with acts which may be described as social offences having
regard to the special circumstances under which they are
committed, and which have now become a dominant feature of
certain powerful sections of modern society. Such offences may
broadly be classified into:-
(1) Offences calculated to prevent or obstruct the economic
development of the country and endanger its economic health;
(2) Evasion and avoidance of taxes lawfully imposed:
69
(3) Misuse of their position by public servants in making of contracts
and disposal of public property, issue of licenses and permits
and similar other matters;
(4) Delivery by individuals and industrial and commercial
undertakings of goods not' in accordance with agreed
specifications in fulfillment of contracts entered into with public
authorities;
(5) Profiteering, black-marketing and hoarding;
(6) Adulteration of foodstuffs and drugs;
(7) Theft and misappropriation of public property and funds; and
(8) Trafficking in licenses, permits etc.
38. Some of these offences have been made punishable by special
enactments. It is desirable to add a new chapter to the Indian
Penal Code bringing together all the offences in such special
enactments and supplementing them with new provisions so that
all social offences will find a prominent place in the general
criminal law of the country. Government may consider whether
this work should be undertaken by a special legal committee or
referred to the Law Commission.
39. Section 21 of the Indian Penal Code should be amended as
stated below:
(i) The words „public servant‟ should be defined to mean „every
person in the service or pay of the Government, a local authority
or a Corporation established by a Central or State Act, or a
70
Government Company as defined in Section 617 of the
Companies Act, 1956 and/or who is remunerated by fees or
commission for the performance of any public duty.
(iii) Every Minister including Ministers of State, Deputy Ministers
and Parliamentary Secretaries holding such office in the Union or
State Governments.
(iii) The words „engaged in any trade or industry‟ may be deleted
from the twelfth clause of Section 22 of the Indian Penal Code.
(iv) Any person entrusted with adjudicatory functions in the
course of enforcement of any law for the time being in force. (A
revised draft incorporating the above amendments is given.)
40. Offering of bribe or attempt to offer bribe should be made a
substantive offence and not merely an abetment as at present
by adding a new Section in the terms suggested as Section
161A.
41. Offences under Chapter IX of the Indian Penal Code should be
made non-bailable.
42. The presumptions enunciated in Sections 4(1) and 4(2) of the
Prevention of Corruption Act should be made available in respect
of Sections 5(1) and 5(2).
(The Committee is suggesting extensive amendments to Section
5),
71
43 (i) The words „in the discharge of his duty‟ should be deleted
from Section 5 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
(ii) Possession of assets by a public servant disproportionate to
his known sources of income for which he cannot satisfactorily
account should be brought within the definition of criminal
misconduct and treated as a substantive offence.
(iii) Habitual corrupting of public servants or abetment of such
conduct should be made a substantive offence by the addition of
a new sub-section.
A draft of Section 5 incorporating the above suggestions is
given.
44. Section 5A of the Prevention of Corruption Act may be amended
so as to authorize all Police Establishment and such officers of
similar rank of the Anti-Corruption agencies of the State
Governments to be specified by the respective State
Governments by general or special orders to make investigations
without obtaining the permission of a Magistrate.
45. Section 4(p) of the Criminal Procedure Code or Section 5 of the
Delhi Police Establishment Act may be amended to include
Officers of the Special Police Establishment of the rank of a sub-
Inspector, an Inspector and a Deputy Superintendent of Police
within the definition of „an officer in charge of a Police Station‟ so
that they may be able to exercise, in the discharge of their
functions, in any area in a State any of the powers which an
72
officer in charge of a Police Station can exercise under the Code
of Criminal Procedure.
46. Section 94 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Section 5 of the
Bankers‟ Book (Evidence) Act should be suitably amended to
enable the Officers of the Special Police Establishment and/or of
the State Anti-Corruption agencies and/or any other officer
notified in this behalf by general or special order by the Central
or State Government, as the case may be, to obtain certified
copies of the accounts and of all other documents relevant to
the entries in the books of accounts relating to any person in
respect of whom an inquiry or an investigation is being made
whether under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure
or any other law or rule for the time being in force or in any
other manner whatever.
47. Section 222(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure may suitably
be amended so as to cover offences under Section 5(l) (c) of the
Prevention of Corruption Act and dishonest misappropriation of
movable property other than money.
48. Sub-section (6) of Section 251A may be amended to make it
obligatory for the accused to file a list of witnesses and
documents he proposes to rely upon in his defence immediately
after the charge is framed. There is, however. no objection if
73
such a list is furnished at a subsequent stage but on the closing
of the evidence for the prosecution.
49. A proviso may be added to sub-section (1A) of Section 344 of
the Code of Criminal Procedure to provide that adjournment or
postponement of trial or inquiry need not be granted or made
only on the ground that a party to the proceedings intends to
take up in revision before a higher Court the legality, propriety
or correctness of an order passed by the Court.
50. A proviso may be added to Sections 435 to 439 to provide that
higher courts may not grant stay of proceedings without giving a
reasonable opportunity to the opposite party to show cause
against grant of stay and to require that reasons should be
recorded to show that it is not necessary in justice to stay the
proceedings.
51. Section 435 of the Criminal Procedure Code may be amended to
provide that the records of the lower court should not be
requisitioned without hearing the opposite party or in cases
where the purpose could be served by the filing of certified
copies.
52. Section 492 of the Criminal Procedure Code should be amended
to empower the Central Government to appoint Public
Prosecutors, in any case, or in any specified class of cases.
74
53. Section 540 A(2) may be amended to enable the court, in its
discretion, to proceed with the trial or inquiry and to record
evidence even in the absence of the accused subject to the right
of the accused to recall the witnesses for cross-examination.
54 Section 198B of the Criminal Procedure Code may be amended
by-
(i) deleting subsection (13);
(ii) deleting the words „other than the offence of defamation by
spoken words‟ in clause (1);
(iii) casting the burden of proving the truth of imputation on the
accused: and
(iv) requiring the accused to prove that he acted in good faith
and in public interest.
55. (i) Section 5 of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1947,
may be amended so as to raise the punishment provided for
there under to 2 years rigorous imprisonment and a! so to make
it obligatory to pass the minimum sentence of six months
imprisonment except where the court, for reasons to be
recorded in writing, considers that a sentence lesser than the
minimum should be imposed.
(ii) A provision may also be made to the effect that the principal
office bearers would also be liable for punishment for offences
committed by a company or partnership concern or any
75
incorporated body or an association of individuals and that the
burden of proving their innocence should lie on them.
56. Sections 7 and 8 of the Essential Commodities Act may be so
amended by the Act by adding the words „or any direction given
under any order made there under‟ after the words „any order
made under Section 3‟.
57. Article 311 of the Constitution may be amended by adding the
following clause as clause (4): “Notwithstanding anything
contained in Parts 111, IV, VI and XIV of the Constitution.
Parliament may by law regulate all matters relating ti0
maintenance of integrity and honesty in the Services and posts
under the Union and States including the jurisdiction of Courts in
respect of such matters.”
The power to make such legislation should be added as an item
in List I of Schedule VII of the Constitution.
58. Powers to summon and compel attendance of witnesses and
production of documents should be conferred on the inquiring
authorities in departmental proceedings by suitable legislation.
59. The need for continuing the provisions prescribing a period of
limitation for initiation of any proceeding for any thing done or
ordered to be done under the powers given by special
enactments such as the Central Excise and Salt Act. 1944,
should be examined and if possible be totally done away with; if
76
it is not possible to do so the period of limitation should be
enlarged and it should start running from the date of knowledge
of the act or order and not from the date of accrual of the cause
of action.
TRUE COPY
77
ANNEXURE P-2
Relevant clause of the All – India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968
Rule 3(3)(ii)(iii) of the All India Services Conduct Rule 1968:
3(3) (ii) The direction of the official superior shall
ordinarily be in writing. Where the issue of oral direction
becomes unavoidable, the official superior shall confirm it
in writing immediately thereafter.
(iii) A member of the Service who has received oral
direction from his official superior shall seek confirmation
of the same in writing, as early as possible and in such
case, it shall be the duty of the official superior to confirm
the direction in writing.
TRUE COPY
78
ANNEXURE P-3
MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE P.C. HOTA COMMITTEE
ON CIVIL SERVICE REFORM
1. To mould young entrants for the higher civil service through
training, government may go back to the period from 1948 till
1971 when the age of eligibility was 21-24 years for general
candidates (as against 21-30 years for general candidates at
present) with five years age concession for members of the
Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes. Age concession for
candidates of the Other Backward Classes may be three years as
at present.
2. As no competitive examination will be proof against selection of
a few unsuitable candidates, Directors of Training Academies
may invoke the Probation Rules to weed out unsuitable officer-
trainees.
3. Officers must have Annual Performance Plan. Invariably an
Annual Performance Plan will be a component of the Action
Plan/Vision Statement of the Department/Ministry and its
strategic long-term plan. Wherever possible, performance
targets must be quantified. If it is not possible to quantify the
targets, some other mode of target setting be done to ensure
that an officer is held strictly accountable for performance.
79
4. After 15 years of service, a rigorous review be carried out of
performance of civil servants based on the earlier quinquennial
review of performance. If an officer is not honest and
performance-oriented, he be weeded out of service on
completion of 15 years on proportionate pension. An officer
should also have the option to retire on proportionate pension
after 15 years of service. A similar review be carried out
subsequently at periodic intervals to determine if performance
level of an officer has fallen sharply/if there are allegations
against an officer‟s integrity.
5. Each Department/Ministry should be required to identify the
points of citizen interface, benchmark the quality of services and
strengthen the existing grievance redressal mechanism.
6. Officers of the higher Civil Service must supervise work of junior
functionaries by regular visits and inspections. All officers of the
higher Civil Service must put on the website/print media their
contact telephone numbers during office hours. Every Ministry/
Department/Office having large public interface must have a
few toll free telephone numbers with voice mail facility.
7. Junior officers at the cutting edge level of administration should
be given training in customer service, attending to phone calls
and resolving public grievances.
80
8. Rules under the Freedom of Information Act 2002 be notified
immediately. The implementation of the Act be reviewed after
three/four years by an independent Task Force.
9. The Official Secrets Act be modified to cover only the essential
minimum requirements of national security, public order and
individual privacy.
10. All officers having a public interface to wear name badges while
on duty.
11. The duties, functions and responsibilities of all senior posts be
laid down and publicized.
12. After every five to seven years in service, a civil servant should
spend at least two months with a non-government organization,
academic institution or the private sector.
13. ISO 9000 be introduced for government offices.
14. A full time officer should be posted in the Information and
Facilitation Centre and each Department should attend to public
grievances.
15. Annual Property Return of all public servants be put on the
website.
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16. Rules be framed under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition)
Act. 1988 for attachment/forfeiture of benami/ill-gotten property
of corrupt public servants.
17. Article 311 of the Constitution be amended to enable
President/Governor to dismiss/remove public servants summarily
in case of corrupt practice/having assets disproportionate to
known source of income. The officer concerned may be given
post-decisional hearing to prove his innocence. To ensure
natural justice, such post-decisional hearing has been held to be
constitutionally valid by the Supreme Court of India.
18. Under the overall control of the Central Vigilance Commission,
committees of experts be set up in various Departments to
scrutinize cases of officers before initiating departmental action
for corrupt practices/launching prosecution against them under
the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. Such a reform will
encourage honest officers to take bold commercial decisions in
the public interest without the lurking fear of a vigilance/CBI
inquiry.
19. Section 13 (1) (d) (iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988
be amended so that civil servants are not incriminated for taking
bona fide commercial decisions in the public interest.
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20. Every programme of government should specify the deliverables
in terms of services. Functioning of government offices having
large interface with the common man should be assessed once
in three/four years by independent organizations.
21. Citizen Centres should be set up to build capability for analyzing
and suggesting changes in government policies. The civil service
training institutes should perform the nodal role in this behalf.
22. Each Department of the Government should develop an internal
evaluation mechanism on the basis of clearly laid down
parameters. The result of such evaluation should be part of the
Annual Administration Report. Departments should be held
accountable for outcomes and there should be a sharp focus on
service delivery.
23. A State of Governance Report should be brought out evaluating
the performance of each State on the basis of a set of
parameters of good governance.
24. Points of public interface in government should be identified for
focused attention and improvement. Within a period of two
years the procedures in the areas of public interface should be
simplified and electronic service delivery for the common people
83
be introduced. Each Department/Ministry may lay down a time
schedule to extend service delivery through electronic means.
25. To provide a clean, honest and transparent government,
antiquated rules and procedures in Government must be
discarded and new simplified ones be put in place. Such an
exercise is absolutely essential for introduction of e-governance.
26. E-Governance can augment efficiency and ensure transparency
in government. The Andhra Pradesh experiment of identifying
officers as Chief Information Officers to be trained in the Indian
Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, in e-governance is a
noteworthy initiative. New entrants to the Civil Service have
adequate hands – on experience with computers and the
internet and they could be sent periodically for further training in
application of e-governance.
27. Each Department should identify skill gaps keeping in view its
functions and take steps to train the required number of people.
28. The National Informatics Centre (NIC) should function as a
vehicle for disseminating best practices across the country.
29. Officers posted as Chief Executive of e-governance projects
should be given reasonable tenure and held accountable for
results.
84
30. The administrative and financial flexibility required for
introducing innovative e-governance measures should be
identified and operationalized.
31. The Minimum Agenda for e-governance should be carried
forward and each Department is required to identify specific
activities which will be enabled in the next 12 months.
32. Departmental examination should include a practical test on the
ability to use and apply computers.
33. Each Department/Ministry should have its own website of basic
information relating to the Department/Ministry and the website
be available for registering public grievances.
34. Each Department/Ministry should undertake a review of the
particular service of which it is the Cadre Controlling Authority to
ensure that officers of the service are used optimally, promotion
prospects for them are adequate and skill levels of officers
upgraded periodically. Each Department/Ministry should
undertake a skill needs assessment to identify required skills and
upgraded skill levels.
35. Civil servants should be encouraged to move laterally to non-
government organizations.
85
36. Government should actively support and encourage outstanding
work done by civil servants through National/State awards and
commendations.
37. The initiative taken by the Department of Personnel and Training
to provide funds to the Indian Institute of Management,
Bangalore to develop a two-year course for officers of the IAS at
mid-career level is worthwhile experiment. Similar training
programmes be devised for the Indian Police Service, the Indian
Forest Service and other Central Services.
38. In the proposed Civil Service law, the highest political executive
shall continue to be the final authority to order transfer of any
officer before his tenure is over, but he will be expected to give
due consideration to Report of the Administrative Inquiry/views
of the Civil Service Board/Establishment Board and record
reasons on the need for premature transfer of an officer. It is
reiterated that the political executive shall have the final
authority ton transfer an officer at any stage in public interest.
An officer aggrieved by order of premature transfer can agitate
the matter before a three-Member Ombudsman, who may,
where suitable, award monetary compensation to be aggrieved
officer. The constitution of the Ombudsman will be the same as
the Ombudsman proposed for the Disputes Redressal Council as
at para 6.19 of this Report. The President/Governor shall receive
reports from the Ombudsman and shall lay an Annual Report on
86
such transfers on the table of the Legislature. There should be a
suitable provision in the law to enable States to adopt it and
make it applicable in the States without going through the long
process of drafting a law and get it passed in the Legislature.
39. The proposed comprehensive law on the Civil Service shall
incorporate, inter alia, a Code of Ethics and a statutory minimum
tenure in a post to an officer. Under the proposed law, if an
officer is sought to be transferred before his tenure, there would
be an expeditious administrative inquiry by a designated senior
officer to be earmarked for this purpose. This can be dispensed
with if the transfer is on promotion/deputation/foreign training.
In all other cases, the Report of Inquiry with the views of the
Civil Service Board/Establishment Board would be put up to the
Chief Minister if officers of the All India Service/other civil
services work in the States, or the Appointments Committee of
the Cabinet if the officers work under the Central Staffing
Scheme. For the officers of the other Central Services working in
Ministries/Departments but not under the Central Staffing
Scheme, the new law will prescribe a tenure with a provision for
administrative inquiry before an officer is sought to be
transferred except on specified grounds.
40. The recommendation of the Surinder Nath Committee (July
2003) for increasing the domain knowledge of IAS officers be
implemented. Similar exercise be undertaken to increase domain
87
knowledge of officers of the other two All India Services and
officers of then C4entral Services.
41. Officers of the All India Service on deputation to their home
State must invariably report back to their parent cadres on
expiry of their periods of deputation. Only one term of
deputation for an officer of the All India Service be allowed to
the home State and that too to attend to urgent personal
problem. The exemption at present available for officers of the
North-East/Jammu & Kashmir cadres in matters of deputation
may continue. Any violation of this stipulation will attract a major
penalty proceeding and also be taken into account while
considering the officer‟s empanelment/promotion. Such a
stipulation would also be applicable to officers of the Central
Service who go on deputation to different State Governments
and to officers who go on deputation to international
agencies/foreign governments.
42. Introduction of sophisticated technology alone would not make
the administration people friendly unless higher civil servants
have a pro-active attitude and reach out to the common people.
They must spend much more time in field visits, inspections,
tours and night halts in remote and rural areas.
43. As officers of State Services appointed to All India Services by
promotion also have to play leadership roles, they should face an
Interview by the Selection Board. The Interview will not be a
88
test of knowledge but will be only a test of leadership qualities.
The selection for promotion to All India Service will be made on
an overall assessment of suitability of officers on basis of record
of service and the Interview Test.
44. Not more than 50% of the officers in a batch should make it to
the Senior Administrative Grade. 30% should be the upper limit
for Higher Administrative Grade and 20% for the highest grade
of Secretaries to Government of India.
45. As there are large number of senior officers of the All India
Service in different cadres, in selected districts, senior officers of
the rank of Commissioners/Deputy Inspector Generals of
Police/Conservators of Forests may be considered for posting as
District Magistrates/Senior Superintendents of Police/Divisional
Forest Officers. The practice of posting very senior
/Commissioner level officers in districts was prevalent before
Independence and even for a few years after Independence. It
is still prevalent in some states.
46. If the Establishment Board, after giving the views of the Minister
in charge, who is a Member of the ACC. Its utmost
consideration. Fails to change its original recommendation
regarding the posting of an officer under the Central Staffing
Scheme, the Cabinet Secretary may send the proposals of the
Board with observations of the Minister in charge through the
89
Home Minister. Who is a Member of the ACC. To the prime
Minister. Who heads the ACC for a final decision.
47. Steps be taken to reduce the number of officers who are
empanelled for senior posts under the Central Staffing Scheme.
48. A member of the higher Civil Service would be debarred from
being appointed as a Private Secretary or Officer on Special Duty
to a Cabinet Minister/ Minister of State in Government of India or
in a state subject to certain stipulations. Ministers may have one
of the officers of the civil service in their Department/ Ministry to
function as Private Secretary for a continuous period of two
years only. The stipulation that no officer of a Civil Service can
be Private Secretary of Minister in the States or in the Central
Government for more than two years may provide for an
exception in case of the prime Minister and the Chief Ministers.
49. Members of the All India Services and the Central Services. Who
are regular recruits through competitive examinations and who
are unable to get promoted to the higher levels in their
respective service due to non-availability of posts. May be
allowed the next higher grade as personal to them a year before
retirement on super-annuation. Such up-gradation shall be
available only to officers with proven record of efficiency and
integrity.
90
50. Suspension from service of All India Service officers by the State
Government will be invalid if not confirmed by the Government
of India within a period of 60 days.
51. Under the new Civil Service law, a member of the higher civil
service should not be appointed to any statutory commission or
a constitutional authority after his retirement on super-
annuation. To insulate him from the temptation of post-
retirement assignment, he should be appointed to such statutory
bodies/ Constitutional Authority only when he is not over 55
years of age so that he can demit office from these Commissions
and Authorities after serving for five to six years.
52. There is a case for better compensation package for members of
the higher civil service. Such compensation must bear a
reasonable comparison with compensation for executives in the
private sector. Issues related to a better package of
compensation to the higher Civil Services may be referred to the
next Central pay Commission.
53. There should be a cooling off period of at least two years after
resignation / retirement before a civil servant can join a political
party and contest elections to any political office. No civil servant
can be appointed to the high constitutional office of Governor of
a State unless a period of two years elapses between his
resignation / retirement and his appointment as a Governor.
91
54. The recommendations of the National police Commission relating
to tenure of senior police officers, independent review of the
work of police departments and streamlining the powers of
arrest should be implemented. The recommendations of the
Malimath Committee on criminal justice system be also
implemented.
55. The procedure for reimbursement of medical expenses of civil
servants should be simplified so that quality medical services are
available from recognized private hospitals without having to
report to the CGHS on each occasion of ailment. The facilities
available at the CGHS hospitals also need to be strengthened.
56. To increase the representation of women in the civil service, it is
proposed that within 15 years, at least 25 percent members of
the higher civil service should be women as against 12 to 13
percent women at percent. Women in the higher civil service be
given four years of leave with full pay in their entire service
career over and above the leave due to them under the normal
leave rules. Such facility will enable them to balance their roles
as officers with their roles as mothers / housewives.
57. To eliminate delay in disposal of a disciplinary inquiry, the Union
public / Service Commission need not be consulted in case of a
civil servant facing charges of corrupt practice and whose case
has been referred to the Central Vigilance Commission for the
first stage / second stage advice. If however the officer is
92
penalized in the inquiry and prefers an appeal, the case may be
referred to the UPSC for advice on the appeal petition.
58. Where minor disciplinary proceedings are sufficient to meet the
end of justice, major penalty proceeding which are lengthy and
time-consuming should not be initiated.
59. An Inquiry Officer should be relieved from his normal duties for a
sufficient period to enable him to complete the departmental
inquiry expeditiously and submit the report.
60. A database on disciplinary cases should be maintained to keep
track of their progress.
61. An Employees Health Insurance Scheme on the pattern of
defense forces should be introduced for the civil service.
62. A high level Selection Committee having a representation of the
Chairman, Union public service Commission be established to
prepare a panel of two names for appointment of one of them as
a member of the State public Service Commission by the
Governor of a state. Similar High Level Selection Committee be
constituted to recommend a panel of two names for
appointment of one of them as a Member of the Union public
Service Commission by the president. Similar Committees be
constituted to recommend panel of suitable names for other high
level statutory and constitutional appointments such as
93
Securities and Exchange Board of India, Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India, Insurance Regulatory Authority, the Election
Commission , the Comptroller & Auditor General to which retired
civil servants are usually appointed.
63. To minimize litigation on service matters, in every Department /
Ministry there would be a Dispute Resolution Council (DRC)
comprising a retired official as chairman and two serving officers
as members. The decision of the DRC shall be invariably
implemented. In case of disagreement, orders of Core Group of
Secretaries / Cabinet Secretary be obtained before DRC‟s report
is acted upon. Similar Dispute Redressal Councils be set up by
State Government.
To ensure that the issues relating to the civil service get focused
attention at the highest political level, the Empowered sub-
Committee Governance of the National Development Council
should go into the policy issues of civil service and make suitable
recommendations.
TRUE COPY
94
ANNEXURE P-4
RELEVANT EXTRACT FROM THE ECONOMIC ADMINISTRATION
REFORMS COMMISSION (JHA COMMISSION) 1986
Reforms of Performance Appraisal System
7.1 Given a clear specification of the task and the vesting of real
authority, the next important prerequisite for ensuring individual
accountability is a proper system for appraisal of performance.
To start with, the role of the individual official within an
organization will have to be concretely and clearly related to the
objective of the organisation. The appraisal should be of total
performance and it should be on a continuing basis. It should
have in-built elements for comparative gradation of different
officials performing identical or similar tasks, so that the
appraisal system can be geared to the system of rewards and
punishments. The performance appraisal which prevails in the
Government hardly' fulfils any of these requirements. The
appraisal is done once a year. It is qualitative and
impressionistic. It is very often a general assessment of a person
rather than that of the performance of a task by him. There is
little evidence of objective criteria for the comparative gradation
of achievement. We believe that there is need for a drastic
overhaul of the performance appraisal system. We are of course
assuming that the system will operate and will be seen to
operate objectively.
Stability of tenure
95
7.2 Another important factor related to performance is the question
of stability of tenure. It is not possible to hold anyone
accountable for a given norm of achievement if he is not allowed
sufficient time to develop the necessary grip on the job and
translate his ability into performance. This is more so in regard
to the more senior appointments where the task involved is
complex and the results are necessarily a function of et
minimum period of time. It follows that officials, particularly at
senior levels, should be given a reasonable length of time to
show results and that this should be facilitated by some flexibility
regarding tenures.
Need for change in the attitude of watch dog bodies
7.3 Lastly, we should like to stress the need to bring about a
corresponding change in the attitude of the watch-dog bodies
entrusted with enforcing accountability in public servants. What
we have today in our system is essentially accountability for
error and wrong.
TRUE COPY
96
ANNEXURE P-5
RELEVANT EXTRACT FROM THE CENTRAL STAFFING SCHEME,
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC
GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS (DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL &
TRAINING) NEW DELHI, JANUARY, 1996
THE CENTRAL STAFFING SCHEME:
3. The Central Staffing Scheme has been in operation now for over
30 years. It provides a systematic arrangement for the selection
and appointment of officers to senior administrative posts at
Centre, excluding posts which are specifically encadred within
the organised Group 'A' services or filled by recruitment through
the Union Public Service Commission. Some posts of Deputy
Secretary and Under Secretary under the Central Government
are shown as numbers, without specifying individual posts, in
the cadre strength of the Central Secretariat Service. These
posts are filled in accordance with the rules of the CSS, and
when so filled, stand outside the Central Staffing Scheme.
Appointments to all other posts of the rank of Under Secretary
and above in the Government of India are filled under the
Central Staffing Scheme, by borrowing officer from the All India
Services and participating Group 'A' services; the cardinal
principle being that all officers who are so borrowed will serve
the Government of India for a stipulated tenure on deputation
and, thereafter, return to their parent cadre. Their growth,
97
development and career prospects will be mainly in their own
Service.
Tenure:
17.01 The fixed tenure of deputation of posting under the Central
Government is the heart of the Central Staffing Scheme.
Rotation between the Centre and the States, Central
Ministries and parent cadres, and headquarters and the field,
provide a certain degree of pragmatism to policy formulation
and programme implementation from the Central Ministries.
Based on the experience gained so far, the periods of tenure
at the different levels have been prescribed as under:-
Under Secretary 3 years
Deputy Secretary 4 years
Director 5 years
Joint Secretary 5 years
17.02 An officer holding the post of Joint Secretary or equivalent,
when appointed to a post under the Government of India at
the level of Additional Secretary, would have a tenure of 3
years from the dateof appointment as Additional Secretary
subject to a minimum of 5 years and maximum of 7 years of
combined tenure as Joint Secretary Additional Secretary.
Where an officer remains on leave (either from the Centre or
from his Cadre authority or both) on the expiry of his tenure
as Joint Secretary till his appointment as Additional Secretary,
98
the leave period shall be counted as tenure deputation.
Additional Secretary 4 years, except for cases covered under
the previous heading. Secretary No fixed tenure.
17.03 Every officer shall revert at the end of his tenure as indicated
above on the exact date of his completing his tenure. He will,
however, have a choice to revert to his cadre on the 31st
May previous to the date of the end of his tenure in case
personal grounds such as children's education etc.,
necessitate such reversion. No extension after completion of
the full tenure would be allowed.
17.12 (a) Officers of the Indian Foreign Service appointed to posts
under the Central Staffing Scheme would have a tenure of
three years. They shall not normally be relieved, except with
the approval of the appointments Committee of the Cabinet
from a Central Staffing Scheme post before their tenure.
TRUE COPY
99
ANNEXURE P-6
CONFERENCE OF CHIEF MINISTERS STATEMENT
DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY FOR TRANSPARENT AND EFFICIENT
GOVERNMENT* Statement adopted at the conference of Chief
Ministers on Effective and Responsive Administration held on 24 May,
1997 in New Delhi
There is an urgent need to ensure responsive, accountable,
transparent and people-friendly administration at all levels. The
Conference of Chief Ministers held recently, discussed an action plan
for effective and responsive government at the Central and State
levels. Inaugurating the conference, the Prime Minister referred to Pt.
Jawaharlal Nehru's statement that "belief in fair play and integrity" was
the basis of a good administration. He said that the Action Plan
document provided a good diagnosis and that it had to be followed up
by a credible and implementable therapy. The resolution adopted at
the conclusion of the conference stated, "The States welcomed the
initiatives taken by the Prime Minister towards more effective and
responsive administration and stated that these initiatives are
important and timely. It was agreed that each State would work for
the implementation of the Action Plan, making appropriate allowance
for variation on local circumstances. Necessary political will to
implement these will be essential."
Accountable and Citizen Friendly Government
100
Under the Action Plan, the Central and State Governments have
decided to formulate Citizen‟s Charters for Departments and Offices,
starting with those which have a large public interface. These Citizen‟s
Charters would specify standards of service and time limits that the
public can reasonably expect, avenues of grievance redressal and a
provision for independent scrutiny with the involvement of citizen and
consumer groups. These Citizen‟s Charters would be widely publicised
and will be made operational in the next few months. All Departments
will publicise facilities at various levels for the prompt and effective
redressal of public grievances from the secretariat downwards to the
villages. Review of existing systems of redressal of public grievances
and institution of measures for streamlining them with a built- in-
system for independent monitoring, is envisaged to be in place soon.
The Central and State Governments have decided to work together for
the simplification of existing laws, regulations and procedures, repeal
of obsolete laws, reform of laws operating against the weaker sections
and steps to reduce the time and cost of the disposal of cases in civil
and criminal courts. The entire process of approvals, sanctions and
issue of permits would be made simpler, transparent and single-
window based. A priority agenda will be adopted and implemented
over the next one year for this purpose. To fulfil the need of greater
decentralisation and devolution of administrative powers at all levels,
immediate steps will be initiated by the State Governments, to
strengthen people‟s participation in Government. Steps will also be
taken to ensure adequate devolution of powers and resources to the
101
elected local bodies in rural and urban areas. The Central and State
Governments are trying to encourage and sustain people‟s participation
and dedicated voluntary agencies in all the schemes for the delivery of
basic services.
Transparency and Right to Information
It is found that secrecy and lack of openness in transactions is largely
responsible for corruption in official dealings, and is also contrary to
the spirit of an accountable and democratic governments. To bridge
this lacuna, the Government has decided to take immediate steps, in
consultation with State Governments, for examining the report of the
Working Group on Right to Information. A legislation for Freedom of
Information and amendments to the relevant provisions of the Official
Secrets Act, 1923 and the Indian Evidence, will also be introduced in
the Parliament before the end of 1997. Computerised information and
facilitation counters are being opened in all the Central and State
Government offices with large public interface so that information and
assistance is available to the public on essential services and approvals
to the benefit of population such as land, records, passports,
investigation of offences, administration of justice, tax collection and
administration, issue of permits and licences etc. The on-going efforts
are being speeded up with the help of the National Informatics Centre
(NIC).
Improving the Public Services
102
It is noted that people-friendly and effective administration depends on
cleansing of civil services at all levels, adherence to ethical standards,
commitment to basic principles of the Constitution and clear
understanding of the relationship regulating the politicians and the civil
servants. Elimination of corruption in the public services requires
prevention, surveillance and deterrent prosecution. The instances of
politician-civil servant - criminal nexus also needs to be dealt with
ruthlessly. Check on politicisation of the civil services will certainly
minimise its impact not only on the morale and motivation of services,
but also on the sustained flow of responsive services to the public and
efficient execution of schemes. The existing rules and legal provisions
will be amended every six months and government employees, doing
good work will be encouraged by rewards. The investigation agencies
and vigilance machinery is being strengthened with the provision of
adequate staff, powers, resources and independence. The existing
procedures for departmental enquiries and vigilance proceedings of
Government employees will be revamped within three months on the
basis of a study of detailed proposals worked out by the Government.
The role and powers of audit in the identification and pursuit of
financial and procedural irregularities, would be strengthened with the
help of various agencies like Lok Ayukta, CBI, vigilance machinery,
income tax authorities, enforcement directorate and Comptroller and
Auditor General. The State Governments have been asked to formulate
and enforce a Code of ethics for State Services similar to the draft
Code being considered for introduction at the Central level. To enable
103
objective and transparent decisions on postings, promotions and
transfers of officials, particularly those working in key areas,
institutional arrangements will be evolved to ensure stability of tenure
and de-politicised postings at all levels.
Implementation Arrangements
A Committee will be set up under the Cabinet Secretary including some
of the Chief Secretaries as well as senior officials of the Government of
India to elaborate the different elements of the Action Plan in terms of
operational content and to work out the decisions required at Central
and State levels. The Committee would draw up a time-bound agenda
for legal and regulatory reforms in priority areas including a statutory
scheme for Freedom of Information and also consider steps to secure
widespread acceptance and feedback from different sections of the
public and elicit the cooperation of the people for responsive
administration. The Conference of Chief Ministers recognised that as
the country completes 50 years of independence, and as the people
are assailed by growing doubts about the accountability, effectiveness
and moral standards of administration, Central and State Governments
should join together to justify the trust and faith of the people in the
Government by taking up the implementation of the Action Plan in a
time bound manner.
TRUE COPY
104
ANNEXURE P-7
RELEVANT EXTRACT FROM THE 2ND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS
COMMITTEE REPORT
2nd ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
10TH REPORT – REFURBISHING OF PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION –
SCALING NEW HIGHTS
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS (RELEVANT EXTRACTS)
13. ( Para 8.7) Placement at Middle Management Level
a. In posting officers in Government of India, the primary
consideration should be to select the most suitable person for
the post that is on offer.
b. Domains should be assigned by the Central Civil Services
Authority (the Commission has recommended the constitution of
this Authority in paragraph No 9.8 of this Report) to all officers
of the All India Services and the Central Civil Services on
completion of 13 years of service.
c. The Central Civil Services Authority should invite applications
from all officers who have completed the minimum qualifying
years of service, for assignment of domains. The applications
should specify the academic background of officers, their
research accomplishments (if any) and significant achievements
105
during their career, relevant to the domain applied for. A
consultative process should be put in place where the officers
should be interviewed and their claims to specific domains
evaluated. The Authority should thereafter assign domains to the
officers on the basis of this exercise. In case some domains do
not attract applicants, the Authority should assign these domains
to officers with the relevant knowledge and experience.
d. All vacancies arising at the level of Deputy Secretary/Director
during a financial year should be identified well before the
beginning of that financial year, by the Department of Personnel
and Training (DOPT). The Ministries concerned should also give
a brief job description for these positions. All these posts and
their job description should be notified to the cadre controlling
authorities of the concerned All India Services and Central
Services. On receipt of nominations from the cadre controlling
authorities, the DOPT should try to match the requirements of
various positions with the competencies of the officers in the
„offer list‟. The DOPT should then seek approval for the entire list
from the Competent Authority.
e. The Central Civil Services Authority should be charged with the
responsibility of fixing tenure for all civil service positions and
this decision of the Authority should be binding on Government.
f. Officers from the organized services should not be given „non-
field‟ assignments in the first 8-10 years of their career.
106
g. State Governments should take steps to constitute State Civil
Services Authorities on the lines of the Central Civil Services
Authority.
14. (Para 9.8) Placement at Top Management Level
a. The present empanelment system for short listing officers for
posting at the SAG level and above should be replaced by a
more transparent and objective placement procedure.
b. At higher levels in government, it is necessary to ensure that
the tasks assigned to a public servant match his/her domain
competence as well as aptitude and potential.
c. Ministries should classify all of their SAG level posts
according to their relevant functional domains.
d. There is need to introduce competition for senior positions in
government (SAG and above) by opening these positions in
Government (including attached and subordinate offices) to all
Services. This principle would apply to all posts including those
that are presently encadred with the organized
Group „A‟ Services. In order to operationalise this, government
should make the continued participation of any of the organised
civil services in the Central Staffing Scheme, contingent upon the
implementation of this principle in those Departments/Cadres.
i. For the positions at the Joint Secretary/SAG level and
above, the Central Civil Services Authority would invite
applications from amongst all the eligible officers from
107
the All India Services and Group „A‟ Central Services
which are participating in the scheme.
ii. For positions at the HAG level and above, the Central
Public Service Authority would, in consultation with
Government, earmark positions for which outside talent
would be desirable. Applications to fill up these posts
would be invited from interested and eligible persons from
the open market and also, from serving eligible officers.
iii. While carrying out this exercise, the Central Civil Services
Authority would stipulate the eligibility criteria, the
required domain expertise as well as the requirements of
qualifications, seniority and work experience. The
Authority would conduct interviews to short-list suitable
officers for these posts. Government would make the final
selection on the basis of this shortlist.
e. A Central Civil Services Authority should be constituted under the
proposed Civil Services Bill. The Central Civil Services Authority
shall be a five-member body consisting of the Chairperson and
four members (including the member-secretary). The Authority
should have a full time Member-Secretary of the rank of
Secretary to Government of India. The Chairperson and
members of the Authority should be persons of eminence in
public life and professionals with acknowledged contributions to
108
society. The Chairperson and members of the Authority shall be
appointed by the President on the recommendations of a
Committee consisting of the Prime Minister and the Leader of
the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. (Explanation:- Where the
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha has not been
recognized as such, the Leader of the single largest group in the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha shall be deemed to be the Leader of
the Opposition).
f. The Central Civil Services Authority should deal with matters of
assignment of domains to officers, preparing panels for posting
of officers at the level of Joint Secretary and above, fixing
tenures for senior posts, deciding on posts which could be
advertised for lateral entry and such other matters that may be
referred to it by the Government.
g. A similar procedure should be adopted for filling up vacancies at
SAG level and higher in the central police agencies. For example,
in the Central Para-Military Forces the senior positions should be
opened to competition from officers of the CPMFs, IPS and the
Armed Forces (including those completing their Short Service
Commissions). Similarly for the intelligence agencies officers
from the armed forces as well as the CPOs with experience in
the field of intelligence should be considered for postings at
higher levels in the intelligence agencies…
…18. (Para 13.4) Accountability
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a. A system of two intensive reviews – one on completion of 14
years of service, and another on completion of 20 years of
service - should be established for all government servants.
b. The first review at 14 years would primarily serve the purpose of
intimating to the public servant about his/her strengths and
shortcomings for his/her future advancement. The second
review at 20 years would mainly serve to assess the fitness of
the officer for his/her further continuation in government
service. The detailed modalities of this assessment system would
need to be worked out by government.
c. The services of public servants, who are found to be unfit after
the second review at 20 years, should be discontinued. A
provision regarding this should be made in the proposed Civil
Services Law. Besides, for new appointments it should be
expressly provided that the period of employment shall be for 20
years. Further continuance in government service would depend
upon the outcome of the intensive performance reviews.
19. (Para 14.6) Disciplinary Proceedings
a. In the proposed Civil Services law, the minimum statutory
disciplinary and dismissal procedures required to satisfy the
criteria of natural justice should be spelt out leaving the details
of the procedure to be followed to the respective government
departments. The present oral inquiry process should be
converted into a disciplinary meeting or interview to be
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conducted by a superior officer in a summary manner without
the trappings and procedures borrowed from court trials. This
would require that the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 be repealed and
substituted by appropriate regulations.
b. No penalty of removal and dismissal should be imposed, except
by an Authority, which is at least three levels above the post
which the government servant is holding. Other penalties – apart
from dismissal and removal – may be imposed by an Authority
which is at least two levels above the current post of the
government servant. No penalty may be imposed, unless an
inquiry is conducted and the accused government servant has
been given an opportunity of being heard.
c. The two-stage consultation with the CVC in cases involving a
vigilance angle should be done away with and only the second
stage advice after completion of the disciplinary process, should
be obtained. In addition, for cases involving a vigilance angle, no
consultation with the UPSC should be required.
d. Consultation with the UPSC should be mandatory only in cases
leading to the proposed dismissal of government servants and all
other types of disciplinary cases should be exempted from the
UPSC‟s purview.
20. (Para 15.6) Relations between the Political Executive and Civil
Servants
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a. There is a need to safeguard the political neutrality and
impartiality of the civil services. The onus for this lies equally on
the political executive and the civil services. This aspect should
be included in the Code of Ethics for Ministers as well as the
Code of Conduct for Public Servants.
b. The Commission would like to reiterate its recommendation
made in its Report on “Ethics in Governance” while examining
the definition of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption
Act, 1988, wherein it has been recommended that “abuse of
authority unduly favouring or harming someone” and
“obstruction of justice” should be classified as an offence under
the Act.
c. It is essential to lay down certain norms for recruitment in
government to avoid complaints of favouritism, nepotism,
corruption and abuse of power. These norms are:
i. Well-defined procedure for recruitment to all government
jobs.
ii. Wide publicity and open competition for recruitment to all
posts.
iii. Minimisation, if not elimination, of discretion in the
recruitment process.
iv. Selection primarily on the basis of written examination or
on the basis of performance in existing
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public/board/university examination with minimum weight
to interview.
These principles could be included in the „Civil Services Bill‟ as
recommended by the Commission in Chapter 17.
21. (Para 16.17) Civil Services Code
a. „Civil Services Values‟ and the „Code of Ethics‟ should be
incorporated in the proposed Civil Services Bill.
b. Conduct Rules for civil servants need to be redrawn based on
the values and code of ethics as outlined in this Chapter
(Chapter 16).
22. (Para 17.5) The Civil Services Law
A new Civil Services Bill may be drafted. The following salient
features may be included in the proposed Bill:
I. Title of the Bill: The Bill may be called „The Civil Services Bill‟.
II. Definitions: “Civil Services” shall comprise of all personnel
holding civil posts under the Union.
III. Civil Service Values: The Civil Services and the Civil Servants
shall be guided by the following values in addition to a
commitment to uphold the Constitution, the discharge of their
functions:
i. Absolute integrity at all times
ii. Impartiality and non-partisanship
iii. Objectivity
iv. Dedication to public service
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v. Empathy towards weaker sections
The Heads of Departments shall be responsible for promoting these
values in their organizations. The Central Civil Services Authority may
from time to time review the adoption, adherence to and
implementation of the Civil Service Values in the departments or
organizations under the Union.
IV. Code of Ethics: The following should be included in the Code of
Ethics for civil servants:
i. Integrity: Civil servants should be guided solely by public
interest in their official decision making and not by any financial
or other consideration either in respect of themselves, their
families or their friends.
ii. Impartiality: Civil servants in carrying out their official work,
including functions like procurement, recruitment, delivery of
services etc, should take decisions based on merit and free from
any partisan consideration.
iii. Commitment to public service: civil servants should deliver
services in a fair, effective, impartial and courteous manner.
iv. Open accountability: civil servants are accountable for their
decisions and actions and should be willing to subject
themselves to appropriate scrutiny for this purpose.
v. Devotion to duty: civil servants should maintain absolute and
unstinting devotion towards their duties and responsibilities at all
times.
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vi. Exemplary behaviour: civil servants should treat all members of
the public with respect and courtesy and at all times should
behave in a manner that upholds the rich traditions of the civil
services.
vi. Recruitment and conditions of service: Recruitment and
conditions of service of persons appointed to the „Public
Services‟ shall be governed by Rules made under this Act.
The following principles of recruitment should be included for all
appointments not routed through the UPSC or SSC:
i. Well-defined merit based procedure for recruitment.
ii. Wide publicity and open competition for recruitment to
all posts.
iii. Minimisation, if not elimination, of discretion in the
recruitment process.
iv. Selection primarily on the basis of written examination or
on the basis of performance in existing
public/board/university examination with minimum
weight-age to interview.
An independent agency should audit the recruitments made
outside the UPSC and SSC systems and advise the government
suitably. This audit should be conducted under the supervision of
the UPSC.
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VI. New Conditions of Appointment: (1) A civil servant, not being a
civil servant recruited or inducted for a short-term appointment,
shall hold office for twenty years from the date of initial
appointment. (2) The relationship between the Civil Servant and
the Government of India during the time he/she holds office
shall also be governed by the rules made in this regard. All
public servants shall be subjected to two intensive reviews on
completion of 14 years and 20 years of service respectively.
Their further continuance beyond 20 years will depend on the
outcome of these reviews. It should be expressly provided that
all new recruitments shall be for a period of 20 years and their
continuance beyond 20 years would depend on the outcome of
the intensive reviews.
VII. Appointment to Senior Positions in Government: All positions in
Government (including in the attached and subordinate offices)
at the level of Joint Secretary and above would constitute the
„Senior Management Pool‟. This would apply to all posts including
those that are presently encadred with the organised Group A
Services. All appointments to positions in this pool shall be made
on the recommendations of the Central Civil Services Authority,
which would go into the past performance and also evaluate the
future potential of an officer. The Central Civil Services Authority
should recommend a panel of officers suitable for a position in
the Government and Government should choose an
officer/person from this panel.
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VIII. Fixation of Tenures: All senior posts should have a specified
tenure. The task of fixing tenures for various posts may also be
assigned to this independent agency - Central Civil Services
Authority.
IX. Widening the Pool of Candidates for Selection to Senior
Positions: Candidates outside the government system should be
allowed to compete for certain posts at senior levels (Additional
Secretary and above). The task of identifying these posts should
be entrusted to the Central Civil Services Authority.
X. Dismissal, Removal etc. of Civil Servants: After the repeal of
Articles 310 and 311 (as recommended in the Report on „Ethics
in Governance‟), safeguards against arbitrary action against
government servants should be provided in the new law. These
safeguards should include:
i. No penalty of removal and dismissal should be imposed,
except by an authority, which is at least three levels above the
post which the government servant is holding.
ii. Other penalties – apart from dismissal and removal - may be
imposed by an authority which is at least two levels above the
current post of the government servant.
iii. No penalty may be imposed, unless an enquiry is conducted
and the accused government servant has been given an
opportunity of being heard.
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iv. The Head of an organization should have powers to lay down
the details of the enquiry procedure, subject to the general
guidelines which may be issued by the Government from time to
time.
XI. A performance management system should be mandatory for
every organization in the government.
XII. Constitution of the Central Civil Services Authority:
i. The Central Government shall, by notification in the Official
Gazette, constitute a body to be known as the Central Civil
Services Authority to exercise the powers conferred on, and
to perform the functions assigned to it, under this Act.
ii. The Central Civil Services Authority shall be a five-member
body consisting of the Chairperson and four members
(including the member-secretary). The Authority should have
a full time Member- Secretary of the rank of Secretary to
Government of India. The Chairperson and members of the
Authority should be persons of eminence in public life and
professionals with acknowledged contributions to society. The
Chairperson and members of the Authority shall be appointed
by the President on the recommendations of a Committee
consisting of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha. (Explanation:- Where the
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha has not been
recognized as such, the Leader of the single largest group in
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the opposition in the Lok Sabha shall be deemed to be the
Leader of the Opposition).
XIII. Functions of the Central Civil Services Authority: The Central
Authority shall discharge the following functions:
i. Review the adoption, adherence to and implementation
of the Civil Service Values in the departments or
organizations under the Central Government and send
reports to the Central Government.
ii. Assign domains to all officers of the All India Services
and the Central Civil Services on completion of 13 years
of service.
iii. Formulate norms and guidelines for appointments at
„Senior Management Level‟ in Government of India.
iv. Evaluate and recommend names of officers for posting
at the „Senior Management Level‟ in Government of
India.
v. Identify the posts at „Senior Management Level‟ in
Government of India which could be thrown open for
recruitment from all sources.
vi. Fix the tenure for posts at the „Senior Management
Level‟ in Government of India.
vii. Submit an annual report to Parliament.
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XIV. Creation of Executive Agencies in Government: Government
should be authorized to create or reorganize some or all of
existing Departments into „Executive Agencies‟. The role of the
Ministries should primarily be on policy formulation while
implementation should be left to the Executive Agencies.
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ANNEXURE P-8 (COLLY i)
17.5.2010 T.S.R. Subramanian “Guru Kripa”
74, Sector 15 A Noida - 201 301 Phone 0120-2512865
E-mail: [email protected]
During the last ten years, I have been interacting with a fairly
large number of retired civil servants who have occupied some
of the senior – most positions in the Government, both at the
Centre and in the States. A common and repeatedly expressed
concern has been the sharp and progressive deterioration which
has taken place in the quality of governance and public
administration in India. For those of us who joined service in the
first three decades after independence, this decline is tragic and
precipitous, pervasive across the spectrum in practically every
sector and too obvious to need repetition. Indeed, as reported in
the press, you have yourself had occasion to write a number of
letters, in your capacity as the Head of the Civil Service,
highlighting the decline in standards of probity and commitment
to core values among the higher Civil Services.
2. You would agree that the preservation of integrity, fearlessness
and independence of the civil servant is an essential condition of
a parliamentary system of Government. While the formulation of
Government policy is no doubt the legitimate task of the
Minister, the Civil Servant is expected to advise him freely,
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frankly and fearlessly at the stage of policy formulation. The
Minister in turn should not interfere in purely service matters
such as postings and transfers and should avoid any departures
from the approved policies to accommodate individual cases as a
result of political or other considerations. However, in practice
we see that the ability of the senior Civil Service to act as an
effective advisory body has been increasingly compromised. For
instance, in many States, the formally constituted machinery of
governance has been bypassed and the Chief Minister‟s
Secretariat reigns supreme. At the Centre, the Special Assistant
rules the roost in many Ministries, acting at the behest of the
Minister and cutting into the legitimate domain of the Secretary
and other senior officials. Indeed, the rise of the Prime Minister's
Office in terms of power, prestige and capability of intervention
has been palpably in evidence since the 1980‟s. All this is not
merely a subversion of due process, but has also adversely
impacted the substance of governance. Traces of the Mogul way
of functioning have crept into the system, with the trusted
henchman being allowed to do whatever he wants, so long as he
remains loyal, pays tribute and does whatever is asked of him.
3. The results are self - evident and indeed writ large in our
developmental experience. Weak governance has manifested
itself in poor service delivery, excessive regulation, whimsical
interventions governed by considerations of personal benefit,
uncoordinated and wasteful public expenditure, inadequate
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transparency and lack of accountability; it has reduced the
effectiveness of government policies and impinged adversely on
growth and development. Despite our high growth rate, India
scores poorly in virtually all international rankings of countries
based on indices of social development. While there are
divergent official estimates of poverty, it is beyond dispute that
well over a quarter of our population still lives below the poverty
line. Indeed, many credible recent estimates place the number
of really poor at or over 50%. The persistence of large-scale
poverty and illiteracy and the lack of access to employment,
shelter, clean drinking water, basic sanitation and health care,
food and nutrition for wide swathes of our population are all
manifestations of serious failures of national governance.
4. None of this is new or surprising. Indeed, Government' of India,
not to mention the State Governments, have over the years set
up a large number of Committees and Commissions to study and
make recommendations on administrative and civil service
reforms. While these reports have dealt with the structural
improvement of the administrative machine and more efficient
methods of personnel management, they have uniformly
stressed the need to preserve the integrity and independence of
the Civil Services and to insulate them from undue interference
from the political establishment. In 1997, the Conference of
Chief Ministers of States, convened by the Government of India
to consider ways of improving the performance and integrity of
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the public service, had recommended that the existing rules and
regulations should be amended within six months to enable
exemplary prosecution and removal of corrupt officials and the
weeding out of staff of doubtful integrity and that, at the same
time, a suitable mechanism should be worked out to reward
employees who do good work. Since then, the Central Fifth Pay
Commission (1997), the Geethakrishnan Commission on
Expenditure Reforms (2001), the Surinder Nath Committee on
Performance Evaluation (2003), the P.C. Hota Committee on Civil
Service Reform (2004) and the Second Administrative Reforms
Commission (2006-08) have all produced voluminous Reports
and recommendations on the subject.
5. Although many of these recommendations have been broadly
similar, they have not been accepted or implemented. While
incremental reforms have no doubt been made over the years,
these relate largely to operational matters like recruitment,
training, acquisition of domain knowledge, etc. Most of the core
recommendations which have been studied, discussed and
commended for implementation by successive Commissions and
Committees have not been acted upon in letter and spirit. These
game – changing recommendations would help to address the
pressing issues of probity, integrity and accountability of the Civil
Service, as well as the preservation of its core values and
independence and enable it to play its appointed role of impartial
adviser and faithful implementer of policies arrived at in a
124
transparent and rational manner, after due consideration of the
pros and cons and keeping in view the paramountcy of the
public interest.
6. To list a few of these recommendations:
a) The Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption
(1962) had recommended that the annual immovable
property statements, which have been found to serve no
useful purpose, should be replaced by a periodic complete
statement of the assets and liabilities of each Government
servant. The Hota Committee had recommended that the
Annual Property Return of all public servants be put on the
website. Indeed, there is no reason why the assets of all
public servants (civil and political) should not be made
public each year and allowed to be freely accessed under
the RTI Act.
b) Government should be empowered to confiscate the
property of public servants who have unaccounted wealth
by enacting the Corrupt Public Servants (Forfeiture of
Property) Bill as suggested by the Law Commission
(Second ARC). This. will be fully in keeping with the
observations of the Supreme Court in a number of cases.
To this end, Rules should be framed under the Benami
Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, for
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attachment/forfeiture of benami / ill-gotten property of
corrupt public servants. (Hota Committee, Second ARC).
c) The Santhanam and Hota Committees had both opined
that Article 311 of the Constitution unjustifiably protracts
disciplinary proceedings against civil servants by
mandating a series of government approvals which lead to
frustrating delays. Disciplinary proceedings involving
charges of bribery, corruption and lack of integrity should
be treated as a separate category under a simplified
procedure (Santhanam). Prior sanction should not be
necessary for prosecuting a public servant who has been
trapped red-handed or in cases of possessing assets
disproportionate to the known sources of income (Second
ARC). Article 311 of the Constitution should be amended
to enable the President / Governor to dismiss / remove
public servants summarily in case of corrupt practice /
having assets disproportionate to known source of income.
The officer concerned may be given a post-decisional
hearing to prove his innocence (Hota); the Supreme Court
has affirmed the Constitutional validity of this procedure.
d) Politicians should be treated as public servants, subject to
judicial checks and administrative and financial disciplines
similar to those applicable to bureaucrats. The Santhanam
Committee had recommended this way back in 1962 and
the Second ARC has recently suggested that suitable
126
amendments be effected to the Constitution to provide
that the immunity enjoyed by MPs and MLAs does not
cover corrupt acts committed by them in connection with
their duties in the House or otherwise. While the Supreme
Court has also upheld this view, in practice there has been
very little accountability of the political class in terms of
the laws of the land.
e) Much of the deterioration in the standards of probity and
accountability within the civil service can be traced to the
practice of issuing and acting on verbal instructions or oral
orders which are not recorded. It should be made
incumbent on every civil servant to formally record all
such instructions / orders / suggestions which he receives,
not only from his administrative superiors but also from
political authorities, legislators, commercial and business
interests and other persons / quarters having interest or
wielding influence.
f) A comprehensive and tough anti-corruption strategy
should be put in place, including the following elements:
(i) Immediate compulsory retirement of officials whose
record and reputation is tainted, and prosecution of
those against whom there is evidence of corruption
(Hota);
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(ii) Strengthening of powers of the state Vigilance
Departments, Lok Ayukta and the Anti-Corruption
branch of the State police enabling them to
effectively initiate and pursue investigations
independently of government direction (Hota,
Second ARC);
(iii) Guaranteed protection of civil servants who expose
corrupt practices (Second ARC) and institution of
annual awards for whistle-blowers in recognition of
their contribution in exposing wrong-doings in the
government;
(iv) Action against corrupt officers cannot be initiated in
many states as the power to sanction prosecution is
vested in state governments. This should be
declared a semi-judicial process, and the powers to
sanction prosecution should be vested with a
designated authority, which should pass a time -
bound speaking order on receipt of complaint from
CBl or other agencies.
g) A State of Governance Report should be brought out
evaluating the performance of each State on the basis of a
set of parameters of good governance (Hota).
h) The Prevention of Corruption Act should be amended to
provide for a special offence of 'collusive bribery'; if it is
128
established that the interest of the state or public has
suffered because of an act of a public servant, then the
court shall presume that the public servant and the
beneficiary of the decision committed an offence of
'collusive bribery' (Second ARC).
i) Both the Hota Committee and the Second ARC had
recommended that a new civil service law should be
enacted incorporating a statement of values and a code of
ethics for civil servants with reference to political
impartiality, ethical standards and accountability for
actions.
j) Practically all Commissions and Committees dealing with
administrative reform have stressed the need for transfers
at all levels to be handled in a non-political, non-partisan,
open and transparent manner. A rational transfer policy
should eliminate the 'transfer industry', do away with
politicized transfers, curb the overall incidence of
transfers, remove uncertainty and imbue officers with a
certain security of tenure in every post and should be seen
as being fair and objective. Transfers should not be
ordered as punishment; if an employee is found remiss in
his duties, he should be proceeded against
departmentally.
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The Conference of Chief Ministers (1997) had recommended the
constitution of Civil Services Boards in different States presided
over by the respective Chief Secretaries (on the pattern of the
Establishment Board of the Government of India presided over
by the Cabinet Secretary) to assist the political executive and
streamline the policy of transfers and promotions based on
identifiable criteria. While some States have subsequently set up
such Boards by executive order, they have failed to inspire
confidence as, more often than not, they have merely formalized
the wishes of their Chief Ministers in matters of transfer of
officials.
Several Committees, including Hota and the Second ARC, have
stressed that a guaranteed minimum tenure for Secretaries to
Government, Heads of Departments and other senior officials is
the only effective solution. Indeed, the Hota Committee had
recommended a statutory barrier to frequent transfer of senior
officials through the establishment of a Civil Services Board /
Establishment Board, both in the States and at the Centre, under
a Civil Services Act. The recommendations of such a Board must
normally be binding on the Government. If, for any reason, the
Government decides not to implement the recommendations, it
must pass a self-contained order on the subject and place a
statement on the Table of the Legislature. Similarly, the Second
ARC had recommended the creation of a Central Civil Services
Authority which would, inter alia, formulate norms and
130
guidelines and recommend names of officers for posting at
'Senior Management Levels' in the Government.
7. My purpose in writing this rather long letter to you is essentially
to ascertain whether and what progress is being / has been
made in implementing some of these key reforms, which would
undoubtedly help to boost the morale of the higher Civil Services
and arrest the decline in standards of administration and
governance which has so sadly become the norm rather than the
aberration today. In his recent Budget Speech in Parliament, the
Finance Minister had frankly and correctly identified weaknesses
in government systems, structures and institutions at different
levels of governance and in particular, the bottleneck of our
public delivery mechanisms, as the key factor that can hold us
back in realizing our potential as a modem nation. He had also
stated that, out of the 800 recommendations of the Second ARC
which have been identified for implementation, 350 have been
implemented so far and a further 450 are under implementation.
This is indeed heartening. It would be useful to know whether
some of the core recommendations of earlier Committees, as
listed above, are among those which the Government has taken
up for implementation.
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I regret encroaching on your very valuable time, but am doing
so only since the issues, I have raised, are of importance.
Yours sincerely, Sd/-
(T.S.R. Subramanian)
Shri K.M.Chandrasekhar,
Cabinet Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, Rashtrapati Shawan, New Delhi - 110 004. Tel: 2301-6696/2301-1241
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ANNEXURE P-8 (COLLY ii)
CABINET SECRETARY
NEW DELHI
K.M.CHANDRASEKHAR
Dear Sri Subramanian, DO No. 501/2/4/2009-CA.V
June 30, 2010
Thank you for your letter dated 17th May 2010. Forgive me for
the delay in my response, which arose because I had to collect
material and also deal with many other issues during the period.
2. Some recent initiatives that we have taken to improve
professionalism, standards of integrity and productivity in
Government are outlined below:
(a) In the matter of Civil Services, a Bill captioned 'Civil
Services Standards, Performance and Accountability Bill
2010' has been prepared which incorporates salient
features, like Civil Services Values, Code of Ethics and
Conduct, Performance Management System, etc. This is
presently under consideration of the Government. The Bill
envisages establishing a Central Civil Services Authority as
recommended by the 2nd Administrative Reforms
Commission and also establish a Performance
Management System for the Civil Servants.
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(b) The Right to Information Act, which makes access to files
available to all citizens in most cases, has led to
remarkable increase in transparency and probity. You
would be aware that even file notings are made available
to applicants. This has resulted in objectivity and
adherence to fair play and due observance of procedures
and provisions in the laws and rules in handling
Government business.
(c) A Performance Monitoring & Evaluation System has been
introduced to evaluate and monitor the performance of
the Ministries/ Departments. In order to take a
comprehensive view and to measure the deliverables of
these Ministries/ Departments, a system of framing
Results, Framework Documents (RFD) for each Ministry/
Department has been introduced. According to this
system, at the beginning of each financial year, each
department is required to prepare a RFD consisting of the
priorities of the Ministry, President‟s Address,
announcements/ agenda as spelt out by the Government
from time to time. At the end of the year, all Ministries/
Departments are required to review and prepare a report
listing the achievements against the agreed results in the
prescribed format. In Phase-I of this system, 59 Ministries/
Departments have been covered. This year, we have
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added another three Ministries / Departments and we
propose also to prepare a Results Framework Document
for the Cabinet Secretariat. You may be interested to
know that some State Governments have also come
forward to introduce Performance Monitoring & Evaluation
Systems in their States. Maharashtra and Punjab have
already held workshops for this purpose in which our
Secretary (performance Management), Cabinet
Secretariat, participated.
(d) In the matter of stability of tenure of officers and to
prevent arbitrary transfers, notifications have been issued
providing 2 years minimum tenure for all the IAS cadre
posts excluding the post of Chief Secretary in respect of
around 13 States which have agreed with the proposal
and a monitoring system is being proposed to be devised
to evaluate this tenure rule in respect of these States. In
respect of the remaining States, the matter is presently
under active consideration of the Government. However,
since State Governments control administrations within
their jurisdiction in a federal polity, the Government of
India can only play an advisory role. We have been
endeavouring to persuade the States to ensure stability of
tenure for officers with mixed results. While in some
States there is positive forward movement, other States
135
have not been enthusiastic. Your suggestions on how
stability of tenure can be ensured in a federal polity would
be most welcome.
(e) Also, the officers at regular intervals are put under mid-
career training programmes that have been designed to
train the officers with a view to make them adapt to new
& evolving technologies and changing work environment.
The Mid Career Training is being carried out in three
phases at regular intervals which has been designed to
take care of the present day requirements of the
Government. For this purpose, institutional tie ups with
reputed institutions such as IIMs, Duke University,
Syracuse University and Harvard University have been
made. Further, a system of intensive review of the
performance of the officers at the time of promotion both
at Senior Time Scale and Above Senior Time Scale levels is
being considered so that inefficient officers are removed
by premature retirement.
(f) To improve accountability and to improve the standards of
the civil service, Performance Appraisal Reports (in place
of ACRs) have been introduced. This is based on the
Surendranath Committee's recommendations and the
assessment of officers is now being done on a quantitative
136
basis with numerical gradings being introduced for each
aspect of assessment. However, the performance
appraisal system thus introduced requires urgent review,
since the results obtained are not satisfactory. In fact,
there is a tendency for reporting officers to grade their
subordinates uniformly at 10 out of 10. This will make
objective assessment for empanelment or promotion in
later years extremely difficult and a situation will come in
which merit will no longer be recognized. I am, therefore,
extremely keen to make changes in this system as quickly
as possible and would welcome suggestions from my
senior colleagues like you.
(g) The 6th Central Pay Commission has recommended
introduction of performance linked incentives and this has
been accepted by the Cabinet. We are working out
modalities for implementation of a system which will
recognize performance through suitable incentives. Since
we have introduced the performance monitoring and
evaluation system, out intention is to link performance
related incentives with results achieved and measured.
Any suggestions from you in this regard would be helpful.
(h) Empanelment system has also been revamped with the
introduction of an initial detailed assessment by Experts
137
Panel comprising retired Secretaries which are taken into
account during the empanelment process. This has
facilitated detailed assessment of the performance of each
officer and the removal of bias or assessments that
deviate markedly from the norm for the officer over the
years.
(i) Further, reforms in the Civil Services Examinations are also
on the anvil to take care of the present requirements of
the administrative system. The present mode of
preliminary screening is being replaced with an aptitude
test in keeping with the international standards.
(j) To suggest measures in order to expedite the process
involved in disciplinary / vigilance proceedings, a
Committee has been constituted under the chairmanship
of Shri P.C. Hota. This is based on the 2nd ARC‟s
suggestion to complete the disciplinary action within a one
year time frame. Here again, I would be grateful for
suggestions, if any.
(k) To deal with complaints against Secretaries / Additional
Secretaries of the Government of India and CMDs/
Executive Directors of CPSUs / Banks, two separate
Committees have been constituted under the
chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary and Secretary
138
(Coordination), Cabinet Secretariat respectively. Similarly,
a permanent Committee has been set up, headed by
retired Secretary, Smt. Rathi Vinay Jha, to look into cases
of reported harassment of women employees by officers
of the level of Secretary / Additional Secretary.
(l) A proposal to introduce a new chapter in the Prevention of
Corruption Act providing for attachment, confiscation and
the forfeiture of property of corrupt public servants is
presently under consideration.
(m) A Bill for providing protection to whistleblowers known as
„Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Informers)
Bill‟ is also presently under examination.
3. I am obliged to you for having taken time out for writing a
detailed letter to me. I would benefit from further practical
suggestions from you, based on your long experience in
administration.
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(K.M. CHANDRASEKHAR)
Sri T.S.R. Subramanian
'Guru Kripa'
74, Sector 15A
Noida-201 301.
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139
ANNEXURE P-8 (COLLY iii)
T.S.R. Subramanian
Ex-Cabinet Secretary “Guru Kripa”
to the Government of India 74, Sector 15 A
Noida - 201 301
Phone : 0120 - 4334070
E-mail: [email protected]
August 25, 2010
Dear Shri Chandrasekhar,
I thank you for your d.o. NO.501/2/4/2009-CA.V dated June 30,
2010 in response to my earlier letter raising certain issues regarding
Civil Service Reforms. I appreciate the trouble you have taken to reply
in some detail. Since I had been traveling the past month or so, I could
not respond to you earlier.
Many important points have been made in your letter. I also
note the earnestness with which some new measures are being
introduced. I would like to make some further comment for whatever
these are worth.
You have referred to the Right to Information Act. Indeed the
first initiative in this regard had been taken by me. I had asked Late
H.D. Shourie in 1997 to Chair a committee on this subject. Based on
this, the first draft of the proposed Act was approved by the Cabinet,
and was in fact sent to Parliament. Meanwhile the government fell, and
it was much later that RTI became law. I thought I would mention this,
since I have a nostalgic association with the evolution of this major
140
step. You have rightly referred to the RTI, which if used well, has
significant potential to introduce transparency in the system.
I notice that the thrust of the proposed reforms mentioned by
you refer to initiating steps to improve performance, better monitoring,
specialization and the like. These are quite important, and are
significant aspects endogenous to the Civil Services, so to speak.
However, the real problem preventing good quality implementation
relates to the politician-bureaucrat interface, and to the pressures
brought on the Civil Servant to “toe the line” or to ensure that he gives
only the advice that suits the political executive. This is the essence of
the problem, somewhat exogenous to the bureaucracy, however
having a larger bearing on their performance, efficiency and
impartiality. Bureaucrats are, through various means, enticed or
coerced to meet the private needs of the politician. This malaise is
even more strongly prevalent in the States, than in the Centre; the
field officers being more vulnerable than the secretariat officials.
Unless this core issue is addressed by the proposed civil services law /
authority, I believe that any change would be purely cosmetic, and
would not contribute to stemming the continuing steep decline in
governance standards.
You had indicated that a Civil Services Bill is under examination,
with a provision for a Central Civil Services Authority. This is necessary.
However, it is important that such an Authority has to be established in
141
each state, where the need is much greater than at the Centre. Indeed
the Authority needs to have full control over all matters relating to
transfers, postings, inquiries and all service matters of officers at all
levels, except the senior most levels. Naturally the secretaries and
heads of departments would be selected by the political authority.
However, full cadre management below these levels needs to be totally
insulated from all political influences. This has to be the objective,
however impractical this may appear at first sight. Besides, the Civil
Services Authority both at the Centre and the State should not include
in its membership any elected representative and should consist of
serving and retired officials of integrity. This is essential to ensure that
political intervention in day-to-day matters and implementation issues
are kept to a bare minimum, if not totally eliminated.
It is also imperative to ensure a minimum tenure of three years
in field jobs, preferably also in the secretariat. The problem is acute in
the States. The Government of India will have to ensure minimum
tenure, not just in the Centre but also more importantly, in the States.
This requires political will. Since the All India Service officers are
recruited by the Government of India, and sent on permanent
secondment to the States, this is a lever that can be used, though
carefully and judiciously, to ensure that it does not backfire. This is a
key necessity, to loosen the day-to-day control presently exercised by
the politicians on the implementation decision-making process of the
field officials, without which governance will not improve. Unless the
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Centre finds a viable solution in this regard, much of the exercise will
be only for show, without substance. This recommendation is at least
50 years old, and has been repeated by every reforms commission/
committee.
I regret if you feel that I have been slightly long in my above
comments. I am sure that with your vast experience, you would be
able to help initiate meaningful steps which will improve standards of
governance.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(T.S.R. Subramanian)
Shri K.M. Chandrasekhar,
Cabinet Secretary,
Cabinet Secretariat,
Rashtrapati Bhawan,
New Delhi -110 004.
TRUE COPY
143
ANNEXURE P-9(Colly i)
CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE SECRETARY (PERSONNEL)
T.S.R. Subramanian “Guru Kripa”
74, Sector 15 A
Noida - 201301
Phone 0120-2512865
E-mail: [email protected]
May 17, 2010
Dear Sri Consul,
Over the past few years, I have been exchanging notes on an
informal basis with a fairly large number of former colleagues who
have retired from the Government at senior levels, both in the Centre
and in the States. During these discussions, a common and recurring
theme has been the sharp and progressive deterioration which has
taken place in the quality of governance and public administration in
India. For those of us who joined service in the first three decades
after independence, this decline is tragic and precipitous, pervasive
across the spectrum in practically every sector and too obvious to need
repetition.
Significantly, Government has itself acknowledged at various
levels that weak governance and inadequacies in implementation have
resulted in poor service delivery, uncoordinated and wasteful public
expenditure, and lack of transparency and accountability which has in
turn reduced the effectiveness of government policies and impinged
adversely on growth and development. In his recent Budget speech,
the Finance Minister had highlighted the weaknesses in government
144
systems, structures and institutions at different levels of governance
and, in particular, the bottleneck of our public delivery mechanisms as
the one factor that can hold us back in realizing our potential as a
modern nation in the coming years. Former Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi had famously and publicly acknowledged that only 17 paise out
of every rupee spent on Governmental programmes actually reached
the common man. In its Report on Ethics in Governance, the Second
Administrative Reforms Commission has stated that “governance is
admittedly the weak link in our quest for prosperity and equity ...
Improved governance in the form of non-expropriation, contract
enforcement, and decrease in bureaucratic delays and corruption can
raise the GDP growth rate significantly.”
Since the civil service is the principal instrument of governance
and implementation of various Government policies and programmes,
the weaknesses and shortcomings in this regard can be traced back
directly to failures of the civil service, regardless of whatever proximate
causes are identified for under-performance in individual sectors. Any
attempt to improve administration must therefore necessarily focus on
the micro – issue of civil service reform, which in turn affects all
aspects of service delivery and implementation. Addressing this
fundamental issue will directly and significantly improve the quality of
delivery and implementation and thus the quality of governance in
general. Indeed, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has consistently
145
stressed the priority and importance which he attaches to
administrative reform almost from the day he took over.
The Department of Personnel plays the nodal role in acting as
the formulator of policy and the watch-dog of the Government in
ensuring that certain accepted standards and norms are followed by all
Ministries/Departments, in the recruitment, regulation of service
conditions, posting/transfers, deputation of personnel and other
related issues. The DoPT is also the repository of the collective wisdom
and the institutional memory of the Government of India in regard to
civil service reform.
Over the years the Government of India, as well as the State
Governments, have set up a large number of Committees and
Commissions to study and make recommendations on administrative
and civil service reforms. These reports have dealt with the structural
improvement of the administrative machine and more efficient
methods of personnel management, and contain many valuable
recommendations. Although many of these recommendations have
been broadly similar, they have not been accepted or implemented.
While incremental reforms have no doubt been made over the years,
these relate largely to operational matters like recruitment, training,
acquisition of domain knowledge, etc. Most of the core
recommendations which have been studied, discussed and
commended for implementation by successive Commissions and
146
Committees have not been acted upon in letter and spirit. These game
- changing recommendations would, if implemented, swiftly and
dramatically improve implementation and service delivery and the
quality of governance in general.
For example, practically all Commissions and Committees dealing
with administrative reform have stressed the need for transfers at all
levels to be handled in a non-political, non-partisan, open and
transparent manner. A rational transfer policy should eliminate the
'transfer industry', do away with politicized transfers, curb the overall
incidence of transfers, remove uncertainty and imbue officers with a
certain security of tenure in every post and should be seen as being
fair, objective and leading to career development. Transfers should not
be ordered as punishment; if an employee is found remiss in his
duties, he should be proceeded against departmentally. The key
element and indeed, the only effective solution, is a guaranteed
minimum and fixed tenure for officers of the higher civil services.
The Conference of Chief Ministers (1997) had observed that
frequent and arbitrary transfer of public servants affects the ability of
the system to deliver services effectively to the people. It
recommended the constitution of Civil Services Boards in different
States presided over by the respective Chief Secretaries (on the
pattern of the Establishment Board of the Government of India
presided over by the Cabinet Secretary) to assist the political
147
executive and streamline the policy of transfers and promotions based
on identifiable criteria. Subsequently, some States have set up Civil
Services or Establishment Boards with the Chief Secretary as the
Chairman and other senior officials of the State as Members. However,
these Boards set up by executive order in different, States have failed
to inspire confidence as, more often than not, they have merely
formalized the wishes of their Chief Ministers in matters of transfer of
officials.
The P.C. Hota Committee on Civil Service Reform (2004) had
identified the absence of a fixed tenure of officials as one of the most
important reasons for tardy implementation of government policies and
programmes, lack of accountability, waste of public money and large-
scale corruption. It noted that there was “overwhelming evidence” that
officials were transferred frequently at the whims and caprices of local
politicians and other vested interests, who successfully prevail upon
the Chief Minister / Minister to order such transfers. Often Chief
Ministers have to oblige powerful factions in their own party by
transferring senior officers who may be honest, sincere and steadfast
in carrying out government‟s programmes but are otherwise
inconvenient as they do not oblige local politicians.
The Hota Committee was of the view that the Civil Services
Board / Establishment Board, both in the States and at the Centre,
should be made statutory in character by enacting a Civil Services Act.
In a State, the Civil Services Board, chaired by the Chief Secretary and
148
comprising senior officers, should perform the functions relating to
transfer, empanelment, promotion, and deputation of officers
performed by the Establishment Board of Government of India /
Special Committee of Secretaries of Government of India, both of
which are chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. While the Chief Minister,
as the highest political executive, will be the final authority for transfer
of all senior officers serving in the State, he shall be guided by the
recommendations of the Board and will have to record his reasons in
writing in case of disagreement. No Minister in a State Government
shall have any powers of transfer, although he can move the Civil
Services Board in this regard stating cogent reasons. Postings of all
Group 'B' officers in a State must be done by the concerned Head of
the Department with the same tenure rule being given statutory
backing.
When there is a move to prematurely transfer an officer, the
Civil Services Board shall advise the Chief Minister regarding the
justification for the transfer after holding a summary administrative
inquiry. Ordinarily the Chief Minister is expected to agree with the
recommendations of the Board as transfer is a routine administrative
matter. However, if he does not do so, he shall be required to record
his reasons in writing. An officer who is prematurely transferred can
agitate the matter before an Ombudsman. An Annual Report on all
premature transfers shall be laid before the State Legislature.
149
Similarly, the Second ARC had recommended the creation of a
Central Civil Services Authority as a statutory body under a Civil
Services Act. The Authority shall be a five-member body consisting of
persons of eminence in public life and professionals with acknowledged
contributions to society appointed by the President on the
recommendation of a Committee consisting of the Prime Minister and
the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The Authority would,
inter alia, formulate norms and guidelines and recommend names of
officers for posting at „Senior Management Levels‟ in the Government.
It would fix tenure for all civil service positions and this should be
binding on the Government. State Governments should take steps to
constitute State Civil Services Authorities on the lines of the Central
Civil Services Authority.
Since the primary consideration should be to select the most
suitable person for the post that is on offer, all vacancies arising at the
level of Deputy Secretary/Director during a financial year should be
identified by the DoPT, which should thereafter try to match the
requirements of the various positions with the competencies of the
officers nominated by the cadre controlling authorities and then seek
approval for the entire list from the Competent Authority.
Both the Hota Committee and the Second ARC had
recommended that a new civil service law should be enacted
incorporating a statement of values and a code of ethics for civil
150
servants with reference to political impartiality, ethical standards and
accountability for actions.
Much of the deterioration in the standards of probity and
accountability within the civil service can be traced to the practice of
issuing and acting on verbal instructions or oral orders which are not
recorded. It should be made incumbent on every civil servant to
formally record all such instructions / orders / suggestions which he
receives, not only from his administrative superiors but also from
political authorities, legislators, commercial and business interests and
other persons / quarters having interest or wielding influence.
In 1997, the Conference of Chief Ministers of States, convened
by the Government of India to consider ways of improving
performance and integrity of the public service, had recommended that
the existing rules and regulations should be amended within six
months to enable exemplary prosecution and removal of corrupt
officials and the weeding out of staff of doubtful integrity and that at
the same time, a suitable mechanism should be worked out to reward
employees who do good work. Since then, the Central Fifth Pay
Commission (1997), the Geethakrishnan Commission on Expenditure
Reforms (2001), the Surinder Nath Committee on Performance
Evaluation (2003), the P.C. Hota Committee on Civil Service Reform
(2004) and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2006-08)
have all produced voluminous Reports and recommendations on the
subject. In particular, the Hota Committee, dubbed as the „Committee
151
of Committees,‟ had studied and distilled the recommendations made
by preceding Committees, making its Report a useful anthology of
suggested Civil Service reforms. However, the general and
overwhelming impression is that all these Reports have been dealt with
in a routine manner, with cursory Action Taken Reports being
prepared, filed and forgotten. The prodigious research and intellectual
efforts of these Committees, not to mention the administrative and
financial resources expended on them, have been largely wasted.
My purpose in writing this rather long letter to you is essentially
to ascertain whether and what progress is being / has been made in
implementing some of these key reforms, which would undoubtedly
help to boost the morale of the higher Civil Services and arrest the
decline in standards of administration and governance which has so
sadly become the norm rather than the aberration today. It would be
useful to know whether some of the core recommendations made by
successive Commissions and Committees set up by the Government, as
listed above, are among those which the Government has taken up for
implementation.
Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(T.S.R. Subramanian)
Shri Shantanu Consul,
Secretary (Personnel),
Department of Personnel and Training,
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions,
North Block, New Delhi.
Tel: 2309-4848/2309-2056
TRUE COPY
152
ANNEXURE P-9(Colly ii)
D.O. No. 14062/13/2010-AIS-III
SHANTANU CONSUL
Secretary GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Tele : 23094848 DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL & TRAINING
: 23093056 MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC
Fax : 23094500 GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
NORTH BLOCK, NEW DELHI-110001
Website : http/www.persmin.nic.in
9th July, 2010
Dear Sri Subramanian,
I am sorry I have taken this unduly long time in replying to your
letter. I notice that the Cabinet Secretary has already addressed a
detailed letter to you in which almost all the issues raised by you have
been dealt with. I am, therefore, commenting on only a few issues in a
note which is enclosed.
2. It was very thoughtful of you to have taken time to address this
letter to me and the other officers. I look forward to receiving your
advice and guidance in future also.
With ward regards.
Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(Shantanu Consul)
Shri T.S.R. Subramanian
Former Cabinet Secretary
“Guru Kripa”
74, Sector 15A
Noida - 201301
153
COMMENTS ON THE OBSERVATIONS CONTAINED IN THE LETTER OF
SHRI T.S.R. SUBRAMANIAN
1. Formal recording of oral instructions from higher authorities Rule
3 (3) (ii) and (iii) of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968
envisage that:
(ii) The direction of the official superior shall ordinarily be in writing.
Where the issue of oral direction becomes unavoidable, the
official superior shall confirm it in writing immediately thereafter
(iii) A member of the Service who has received oral direction from
his official superior shall seek confirmation of the same in
writing, as early as possible and in such case, it shall be the duty
of the official superior to confirm the direction in writing.
The rule is amply clear. Strict implementation is required.
2. Weeding out of officers of doubtful integrity
As regards the issue of weeding out inefficient officers in the All
India Services, the matter of amending rule 16 (3) of AIS (OCRB)
Rules, 1958 and revision of the general policy guidelines regarding
premature retirement proposals / provisions taking into account the
Supreme Court Judgment in 2001 in the case of State of Gujarat Vs.
Umedbhai M. Patel has been under consideration. Rule 16(3) is
154
currently being re-examined in order to make it more stringent by
introducing a system of intensive review at the time of promotion both
at the Super-time and Above Super-time level.
3. Action taken on the recommendation of the Surinderanath
Committee report A Group was constituted in December 2002, under
the Chairmanship of Lt. Gen.(Retd) Surinder Nath, former Chairman of
UPSC, to review the present system of performance appraisal,
promotions and lateral movement in respect of the All India Services
and other Group A services and to make recommendations for
improvement.
The recommendations were examined by the Government. With
a view to improving the assessment of an officer's performance and
capabilities and to determine capacity building needs and suitability for
particular areas of responsibility / assignments, the old system of
writing of Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) has been replaced with
the system of Performance Appraisal Report (PAR) for officers
belonging to All India Services. Accordingly, the Government has
notified the All India Service (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules,
2007 on 14th March, 2007. The new system prescribes an interactive
method of evaluation in which the officers being appraised and the
Officer appraising, both are involved. The broad. contours of the
system include use of the performance appraisal for career planning
155
and training, preparation of a work-plan, health check up, introduction
of numerical gradings, disclosure of the report, etc.
4. Action Taken on Recommendation of the Hota Committee
(i) Officers must have Annual Performance Plan
The revised All India Services (Performance Appraisal Report)
Rules, 2007 provide that the exercise of preparation of a work plan is
to be carried out at the beginning of the year and finalized by 30th
April, positively. The work plan is to be reviewed during the month of
September/October as a mid-year exercise and finalized by 31st
October every year. With the introduction of Results Framework
Documents for the Department there will be greater integration of the
organisational goals with that of the individual performance.
(ii) Annual Property Returns of all public servants be put on the
website.
A proposal to place the Annual Property Returns of all the members of
the All India Services on the website is under active consideration of
this Department.
156
(iii) Suspension from service of All India Service officers by the State
Government will be invalid if not confirmed by the Government of India
within a period of 60 days.
Rule 3 of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969 has
been amended in September, 2009 making a provision that suspension
of a member of the AIS shall not be valid if not confirmed by the
Government of India within a period of 45 days.
5. Action Taken on Recommendation of the 2nd Administrative
Reforms Commission
(i) Code of ethics and conflict of interest
Based on the recommendation of the 2nd Administrative Reforms
Commission in its 3rd Report on Ethics in Governance, a set of guiding
principles for the Civil Service Code of Ethics and Conduct for civil
servants and civil services in the Government has been included in the
proposed Civil Services Standards, Performance and Accountability Bill,
2010. The details in this regard are at Annexure-I.
(ii) Revamping the performance appraisal system
Based on the recommendation of the 2nd Administrative Reforms
Commission in its 10th Report, the performance appraisal system for
157
the members of the All India Services has already been modified in
2007. The details in this regard are at Annexure-II.
(iii) Enactment of a Civil Services Law
The proposed Civil Services Standards, Performance and
Accountability Bill, 2010, incorporating the recommendation of the 2nd
Administrative Reforms Commission is in an advanced stage of
finalisation.
158
Annexure-I
Civil Service Values, Civil Services Code of Ethics and Conduct, and
Civil Services Management Code
3. Values of Civil Services; (1) The civil services and civil servants
shall be guided by the following values in the discharge of their
functions:,
(a) High ethical standards.
(b) Absolute integrity.
(c) Political neutrality.
(d) Promoting of the principles of merit, fairness and impartiality
without regard to caste, community, religion, gender or class in
the discharge of duties.
(e) Accountability and transparency.
(f) Responsiveness to the public, particularly to the weaker section.
(g) Courtesy and good behaviour with the public.
(2) The Heads of Department or public authority shall be responsible
for promoting these values in their organisations.
(3) The Central Civil Services Authority may from time to time
review the adoption, adherence to and implementation of the
values of Civil Services, in the departments or public authority
under the Central Government and send reports to the
appropriate Department of the Central Government.
159
4. Civil Services Code of Ethics and Conduct: (1) The following shall
be the guiding principles for the Civil Service Code of Ethics and
Conduct for civil servants and civil services in the Government:
(i) Civil servants shall commit themselves to and uphold democratic
values and the supremacy of the Constitution.
(ii) Civil servants shall, at all times, defend and uphold the
sovereignty, integrity, security and fair name of the country.
(iii) Civil servants shall take decisions solely in terms of public
interest and use public resources efficiently, effectively and
economically.
(iv) Civil servants shall declare any private interests relating to their
public duties and take steps to resolve any conflicts in a way that
protects the public interest.
(v) Civil servants shall not place themselves under any financial or
other obligations to outside individuals or organizations that
might influence them in the performance of their official duties.
160
(vi) Civil servants shall not misuse their public positions to take
decisions in order to derive financial or material benefits for
themselves, their family or their friends.
(vii) Civil servants shall make choices, decisions and recommendations
on merit.
(viii) Civil servants shall act with fairness and impartiality and shall not
discriminate against anyone, particularly the poor and the under-
privileged.
(ix) Civil servants shall refrain from doing acts that are contrary to
extant laws, rules, regulations and established practices.
(x) Civil servants shall be accountable for their decisions and action
in the discharge of public affairs to the legitimate Government of
the day, and through the Government, to the public.
(xi) Civil servants shall maintain discipline in the discharge of their
duties and shall be liable to implement the legitimate orders duly
communicated to them.
(xii) Civil servants shall be liable to maintain confidentiality in the
performance of their official duties as required by the extant
laws in force, particularly with regard to information, disclosure
161
of which prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of
India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of
the State, relation with foreign countries or lead to incitement of
an offence or illegal or illegitimate gains to any person.
(xiii) Civil servants shall perform and discharge their duties with the
highest degree of professionalism and dedication to the best of
their abilities.
5. Breach of Civil Services Code of Ethics and Conduct :- (1) The
controlling authority or the disciplinary authority, as the case
may be, may, subject to the provisions of the Act, impose any of
the following sanctions on a civil servant for breaching the civil
services code of ethics and conduct :-
I. Censure
II. Withholding of promotions
III. Recovery of pay of the whole or part of pecuniary loss
caused to the Govt
IV. Withholding of increment
V. Reduction to a lower stage in the Pay Band
VI. Reduction to a lower Pay Band, Grade Payor Post
VII. Compulsory retirement
VIII. Removal from service
IX. Dismissal from service
162
(3) The general principles for initiating action for breach of the Civil
Services Code of Ethics and Conduct shall be that –
(a) these must comply with basic procedural requirements set
out in the Constitution, and this Act;
(b) these must have due regard to procedural fairness; and
(c) civil servants in the Department or public authority, shall
have ready access to the documents necessary during
such action.
6. Civil Services Management Code: (1) There shall be a Civil
Service Management Code for the civil services.
(2) The following shall be the guiding principles for the Civil Services
Management Code for the civil services:
(a) civil service is established as a highly professional, merit
based institution for promoting government policies and
good governance.
(b) Mechanisms and incentives will be put in place for civil
service to achieve and maintain high levels of productivity,
efficiency and excellence.
163
(c) Policies and structures Will be put in place which will
promote the viability and sustainability of civil service
keeping in view the finances of the Government, and
(d) The interface between the political executive and the civil
service shall be clearly established based on principles of
political neutrality, professional excellence and integrity.
164
Annexure-II
The salient features of the performance appraisal system under the All
India Services (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007
Only one reporting, reviewing and accepting authority - Only one
reporting, reviewing and accepting authority for a given period
of time. If more than one person supervises the performance of
the member of Service, the Government to identify the person to
report or review well in advance of the relevant assessment
year.
Disclosure of the full performance appraisal report.- Disclosure of
the full performance appraisal report, including the overall grade
and assessment of integrity to the officer reported upon after
finalisation by the accepting authority. The officer reported upon
has the option to give his comments on the assessment in terms
of attributes, work output and competency. If the comments are
accepted, performance appraisal report to be modified and the
decision and final grading to be communicated to the officer.
The officer reported upon may represent his case to the Referral
Board, which shall be confined to errors of facts. The decision of
the Referral Board shall be final.
Memorial.-The officer reported upon can prefer a memorial to
the President on the Performance Appraisal Report.
Annual medical health check-up,- Regular annual medical
examination mandatory for all officers above the age of 40. This
165
may be totally dispensed with officers below the age of 40,
except in case of medical incident. A copy of Part C of the health
check up report is to be attached to the PAR.
Work Plan.-The exercise of preparation of a work plan is to be
carried out at the beginning of the year and finalized by 30th
April, positively. The work plan to be reviewed during the month
of September/October as a mid-year exercise and finalized by
31st October.
Training requirement.-The officer reported upon to indicate
specific areas in which he/she feels the need to upgrade skills
and attend training programs.
Numerical grading - Numerical grade in respect of work output,
personal attributes and functional competencies.
Integrity - Integrity is to be recorded not only in relation to
matters relating to financial integrity but the moral and
intellectual integrity of the officer is also to be reported upon.
Pen picture - Pen picture on the overall qualities of the officer
including areas of strengths and lesser strengths, performance,
attitude towards weaker sections and recommendations relating
to domain assignment and an overall grade in the scale of 1-10
to be recorded by the reporting and reviewing authority. The
overall grade will be based on the addition of the mean value of
each group of indicators in proportion to weightage assigned.
Domain assignment.- Recommendations relating to domain
assignment to be given by the Reporting authority.
166
Schedule for completion of PARs - Schedule for completion of
PARs to be strictly followed and completed PAR should reach the
Cadre Controlling Authorities by 31st March of the following year.
If PAR is not recorded by 31st of December of the year in which
the financial year ended the officer is to be assessed on the
basis of the overall record and self-assessment for the year.
Cadre Controlling Authority to prepare a list of PARs not received
and follow up with the Secretaries of the concerned Ministries
and Chief Secretaries of the respective States. Secretary
(Personnel) in the State and the Establishment Officer in the
Centre shall be the Nodal officers to ensure that the PARs of the
members of Service.
Maintenance of personal dossier (CV)
i. A CV to be updated annually on the basis of the PAR / 5-
yearly CV update submitted by the appraisee
ii. PARs earned throughout the career
iii. Reports of medical check-up
iv. Certificates of training/academic courses/study leave
v. Details of books / articles / publications
vi. Appreciation letters from Government / Secretary / HOD /
Special bodies / Commissions
167
vii. Copy of order of penalty and final result of inquiry
viii. Warnings/displeasure/reprimands of Government
Disclosure of PAR: - Annual PAR, including the overall grade and
assessment of integrity shall be disclosed after finalisation by
accepting authority. Appraisee may give comments to the
Accepting Authority within 15 days and the comments shall be
restricted to specific factual observations. Reporting/Reviewing
Authority may accept I modify the PAR after consideration of the
representation and the decision and final grading shall be
communicated with reasons for non-acceptance of the views of
the Reporting/Reviewing authority. The Appraisee may represent
his case through Accepting Authority the Referral Board within 1
month. The Referral Board would consider the representation
and the decision of the Referral Board final. The Board may
“confirm or modify the performance appraisal report, including
the overall grade” with reasons are to be recorded in case of
upgradation or downgradation. Thereafter, The PAR process
would complete. Further relief to the Appraisee is to submit a
Memorial to the President as provided under Rule 25 of the AIS
(Discipline and Appeal ) Rules, 1969
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ANNEXURE P-9(Colly iii)
T.S.R. Subramanian Ex-Cabinet Secretary “Guru Kripa” to the Government of India 74, Sector 15 A
Noida - 201 301 Phone : 0120 - 4334070
E-mail: [email protected]
August 25, 2010
Dear Sri Consul
I thank you for your d.o. letter No. 14062/13/201O-AIS-III dated
9th July 2010, in response to my earlier letter to you raising certain
issues relating to administrative reforms. Indeed I thank you for the
trouble you have taken in compiling the reply. Since I have been
traveling for the past month or so, there has been a delay in
responding to you.
I had also sent a similar letter in May 2010 to the Cabinet
Secretary, to which he had been kind enough to respond in June 2010.
I have replied to him today, and am enclosing a copy of my reply,
which covers many of the points I wished to mention to you.
I also note that you now propose to bring the Annual Property
returns of all AIS officers on to a website. This is a useful move. You
may also consider including the property returns of all relatives (as
defined say for the Directors in companies); and may also include
moveable and immoveable property returns.
169
There is one other point on which I wish to comment. You had
referred to rule 3/3 (ii & iii) of AIS rules 1968 relating to the directions
being given by a superior to be in writing. However, the reality is that
instructions are conveyed to field officials as also to secretariat officials
on the phone or in a conversation by the private secretary or a person
close to the minister; in the field the directions are given by local
politicians or businessmen close to the Chief Minister or an important
political functionary. This malaise is much on the increase, and is
playing havoc with the quality of governance. Any official who does not
take heed to such advice could get transferred, or fall foul of the
regime. This is a harsh reality we all are aware of. Accordingly it will be
necessary to amend the rule to make it mandatory on the civil servant
to bring any advice, comment, direction, suggestion or prompting by
any official or non-official, through telephone or personal conversation,
relating to the discharge of his duties on record in writing. While this
may not totally eliminate the malpractice, this could certainly help
improve the present dismal situation. You may like to look into this -I
make the suggestion for whatever it is worth.
I note that you are anxious to improve the quality of
governance. I wish you all luck in this regard.
Yours sincerely, Sd/-
(T.S.R. Subramanian) Shri Shantanu Consul, Secretary Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, North Block,
New Delhi-110001.
TRUE COPY
170
ANNEXURE P-10(COLLY i)
CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE CHIEF VIGILANCE COMMISSIONER
T.S.R. Subramanian “Guru Kripa”
74, Sector 15 A
Noida - 201301
Phone 0120-2512865
E-mail: [email protected]
May 17, 2010
Dear Sri Sinha,
As a civil servant, I was privileged to have occupied senior
positions in the Government, both at the Centre and in the State of my
allotment. Informal discussions with a fairly large number of former
colleagues who retired at senior levels have brought out the common
and deeply regretted concerns at the sharp and progressive
deterioration in the quality of governance and public administration in
India. For those of us who joined service in the first three decades
after independence, this decline is tragic and precipitous, pervasive
across the spectrum in practically every sector and too obvious to need
repetition.
The frequency and size of frauds which are being reported in the
press have grown exponentially and severely dented the
developmental process. The failure to effectively curb corruption and
the growth of the black economy are manifestations of pervasive policy
failure and poor governance which have in turn resulted in avoidable
poverty and unemployment, lower levels of human development, more
171
skewed distribution of income, poorer quality of infrastructure,
subversion of the political system, weakening of the institutions of
democracy, and increasing problems of law and order.
Whereas in earlier years it was only the odd official who was
financially corrupt, today financial probity seems to be at a premium in
the civil services. Information obtained through the Right to
Information Act shows that scores of officers from the IAS, IPS and
other key services continue to get promoted, posted to sensitive
positions and enjoy the benefits of power despite being charge-
sheeted by several anti-corruption agencies, in complete contravention
of the service rules framed by the Ministry of Personnel and the Union
Home Ministry.
In 1985, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had startled the
nation with his statement that only 17 paise out of every rupee spent
on Governmental programmes actually reached the common man.
There has been a marginal improvement in the last quarter century; a
recent study of the Public Distribution System found that 16 paisa out
of every rupee was reaching the targeted sections. These sobering
statistics point to the urgent need for reforming public administration
and delivery systems.
In this context, the establishment of the Central Vigilance
Commission as a statutory body had brought hope that the
172
Government‟s stated policy of zero tolerance for corruption would
henceforth be overseen and implemented by an independent body.
The CVC was set up as the premier statutory body for investigating
any transaction in which a public servant may have acted improperly or
in a corrupt manner, tender independent and impartial advice and
recommend appropriate action in disciplinary cases and for exercising
superintendence and check over vigilance and anti-corruption work in
the Government of India.
Some of the Commission‟s early initiatives, like the
creation of a website and recommending the use of
Information Technology by banks and other public institutions
to bring in transparency, as well as the decision to display the
names of senior officers who were charged with violating
conduct rules on the CVC website were widely welcomed. It
has been recently reported that, in March 2010, the CVC
disposed of 864 cases referred to it for advice, advising the
imposition of major penalty against 132 officers and that, on
the Commission‟s recommendations, the competent authorities
issued sanctions for prosecution against 42 officers.
While these are positive indications, the general
impressions is that the CVC‟s recommendations are largely
being ignored by Ministries, Departments and even by PSUs.
For example, the Minister of State for Personnel, Public
173
Grievances and Pensions, Shri Prithviraj Chavan, had recently
informed Parliament that the Government had „deviated‟ from
the CVC‟s advice in 38 cases. Of 27 cases in which the CVC
had recommended “major penalty” for errant officers, nine
ended in exoneration, six in “closure,” two in “warning”, two
in “censure”, seven in “minor penalty”, while in one case,
penalty was “not applicable.”
Similarly, some officials whose names have appeared on
the CVC website continue to occupy sensitive positions in
Government, although it is a first principle of administration
that if a person is facing a vigilance inquiry, he should not be
placed in a sensitive post. Again, although the CVC aims to
have all departmental inquiries completed within six months,
lengthy delays are the norm in the conduct of departmental
inquiries, providing a cover of respectability for the guilty and
helping corruption to flourish. Despite being dec lared null and
void by the Supreme Court in the Havala Case, the Single
Directive continues to be in force, debarring investigations
into any offence alleged to have been committed under the
Prevention of Corruption Act by officers of the level of joint
secretary and above without the prior approval of the
Government. Indeed, in his dissenting note on the Joint
Parliamentary Committee‟s Report on the CVC bill, Shri Kuldip
Nayar, Raja Sabha MP, had pointed out that providing this
174
type of immunity would mean that pliable public servants
“who carry out the errands of the political masters will go Scot
free” and “corrupt officers will rule the roost due to their
proximity to the seats of power.” This has indeed come to
pass.
It is unfortunate that, in Transparency International‟s Corruption
Perception Index for 180 countries, India's ranking has slipped from 73
in 1999 to 85 in 2008 and, after the CVC had contested the ranking, to
84 in 2009. This is certainly not evidence of zero tolerance for
corruption, which continues to flourish in India because it is perceived
to be a low risk, high profit business. Opaque and archaic rules and
procedures, significant delays in service delivery and lack of
accountability all provide opportunities for corruption, leading to a
situation where the size of the parallel economy is estimated at well
over 40% of the GDP. Moreover, far too little has been done to deter
corruption. Senior civil· servants have rarely been investigated or
punished and agencies such as the CBI or the Income Tax
Department, on which the CVC relies for conducting investigations,
have little credibility in the eyes of the public. It is clear that public
administration is hamstrung by corruption at various levels and indeed,
as documented by the N.N. Vohra Committee Report, by collusion
between some members of the civil service, the political establishment
and criminal elements. In short, the guardians of the system have
themselves sought to systematically subvert it to their private
175
advantage and the system has had no defence against such
subversion.
Over the years, the Government of India have set up a large
number of Commissions and Committees to study and make
recommendations on administrative and civil service reform. Many of
these Commissions and Committees have dealt at length and in detail
with the issue of corruption in public life. For example, the Santhanam
Committee on Prevention of Corruption (1962), the First Administrative
Reforms Commission (1966-70), the L.K. Jha Economic Administration
Reforms Commission (1983), the Conference of Chief Ministers of
States (1997), the Central Fifth Pay Commission (1997), the
Geethakrishnan Commission on Expenditure Reforms (2001), the
Surinder Nath Committee on Performance Evaluation (2003), the P.C.
Hota Committee on Civil Service Reform (2004) and the Second
Administrative Reforms Commission (2006-08) have all made
recommendations on the subject.
Based on these reports, it should be possible to put in place a
comprehensive and tough anti-corruption strategy, including the
following elements:
i. Immediate compulsory retirement of officials whose record
and reputation is tainted and prosecution of those against
whom there is evidence of corruption;
176
ii. Strengthening of powers of the state Vigilance
Departments, Lok Ayukta and the Anti-Corruption branch
of the State police enabling them to effectively initiate and
pursue investigations independently of government
direction;
iii. Guaranteed protection of civil servants who expose
corrupt practices;
iv. Annual awards for whistle-blowers in recognition of the
contribution made by such persons in exposing wrong-
doings in the government;
v. In particular, property and tax returns of all senior officers
should be available for scrutiny by the public. These could
be put on a „home page‟ of the government on the
Internet, so that anyone having access to Internet could
access such information and get in touch with government
if the stated facts are contrary to his knowledge;
vi. Each State should be asked to pass the Corrupt Public
Servants (Forfeiture of Property) Act, already drafted by
the Law Commission. This will ensure that the illegal
wealth of the corrupt is confiscated and is not enjoyed by
them. Under the Benami Transaction Prohibition Act of
1988, benami properties (bought in some one else's name
to avoid declaring the source income) can be confiscated.
The states should be asked to frame rules and procedure
177
for this law and the number of cases prosecuted under
this law should be monitored;
vii. Action against corrupt officers cannot be initiated in many
states as the power to sanction prosecution is vested in
state governments. This should be declared a semi-judicial
process, and the powers to sanction prosecution should be
vested with a designated authority, which should pass a
time - bound speaking order on receipt of complaint from
CBI or other agencies.
viii. Since much of the deterioration in the standards of probity
and accountability within the civil service can be traced to
the practice of issuing and acting on verbal instructions or
oral orders which are not recorded, it should be made
incumbent on every civil servant to formally record all
such instructions I orders I suggestions which he receives,
not only from his administrative superiors but also from
political authorities, legislators, commercial and business
interests and other persons / quarters having interest or
wielding influence.
The implementation of these steps will go a long way in creating
confidence in the public mind that the government means business
and is serious about eradicating corruption.
178
My purpose in writing this rather long letter to you is to ascertain
how the CVC, as the premier anti - corruption body in the country,
plans to deal with the systemic and long-term deficiencies which have
led to the present situation, characterized by disturbing trends in
regard to corruption and falling standards of probity and integrity in
the civil services. Beyond the day-to-day disposal of pending cases,
does the CVC have a long term plan to cleanse the system and
improve standards of governance to an acceptable level? Has the CVC
advised the Government to implement specific anticorruption measures
which have been recommended by successive Commissions and
Committees set up by the Government of India? (2006-08) ? Has the
CVC put its weight behind a long-term strategy to combat corruption in
public life? If so, can this be put on the website or otherwise shared
with the public? If not, why not?
These are no doubt hard questions, but they are integral to the
efficacy of the CVC and its ability to discharge its statutory
responsibilities and indeed to the future growth and development
prospects of India as a whole. I would be grateful for a reply.
Yours sincerely, Sd/-
(T.S.R. Subramanian) Shri Pratyush Sinha, Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Central Vigilance Commission, Satarkta Bhawan, GPO Complex, Block-A, INA, New Delhi - 110 023. Tel: 2465-1020
TRUE COPY
179
ANNEXURE P-10(COLLY ii)
D.O. No. CVC/2010/96433
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
CENTRAL VIGILANCE COMMISSIONER
Pratyush Sinha Satarkta Bhawan
G.P.O. Complex, Block A, INA
New Delhi 110023.
August 2, 2010
Dear Shri Subramanian,
Many thanks for your letter dated 17th May, 2010 and your views
regarding the state of corruption in India. There has been some delay
in replying to your letter because I was waiting for the two vacancies
of the Vigilance Commissioner to be filled so that we could discuss
your suggestions in the Commission meeting. That now may have to
wait for some more time. In the meanwhile, I am enclosing a short
note on the new initiatives taken by the Commission. You are aware
that the CVC‟s jurisdiction stops with the Government of India
organizations and agencies. We are also finalizing a draft National Anti-
corruption Strategy which will then be discussed with all the stake
holders before it is sent to the Government for its adoption.
With regards.
Yours Sincerely Sd/-
(Pratyush Sinha) Shri T.S.R. Subramanian “Guru Kripa” 74, Sector-15A NOIDA-201 301
180
New initiatives taken by the Commission
1. An important requirement for promoting integrity is to have an
effective and coordinated anti-corruption policy. What exist
presently are various circulars, guidelines or instructions issued
by various agencies including the CVC from time to time. The
Prime Minister Office has also issued instructions on Zero
Tolerance to corruption which serves as a guiding document.
Besides, anti-corruption measures are pursued' by various
Ministries as an internal part of schemes run by them. A need
was therefore felt to have a National Anti-Corruption Strategy
(NACS)as an overarching policy document to be adopted by the
government, as is the practice in most of the countries. The
independent Anti-Corruption Commissions of these countries
have played a leading role in helping the government formulate
such a strategy. The CVC has therefore undertaken the task of
helping the Government by formulating a' draft National Anti-
Corruption Strategy.
2. Commission has been placing greater emphasis on prevention
which is a more efficient and effective means of checking
corruption. A preventive vigilance framework is being prepared
by SCOPE which aims at aligning the vigilance work with the
modern day approach of risk management and corporate
governance.
181
3. One of the Commission‟s strategy has been to create awareness
and educate the public on anti-corruption. The aim is to reduce
people‟s tolerance for corruption and reduce its social
acceptability. The Commission has initiated a project for
generation of awareness among the people. It is proposed to
engage media agencies to create campaign in the electronic and
print media besides posters and leaflets.
4. Leveraging of technology to prevent corruption has been an
important initiative of the Commission since 2004. This was
implemented as a two-phased programme of persuading the
organisations to computerise the activities vulnerable to
corruption. This has been successful to a large extent and the
efforts of the Commission have been quoted as a best practice
by the OECD. The Commission is now reviewing this programme
so as to implement the next stage with a renewed focus.
5. The Commission has been promoting, the concept of Integrity
Pact developed by Transparency International since Nov. 2007.
More than 50 organisations including the ministries conducting
major procurements have adopted" the Integrity Pact so far and
the experience has been satisfactory. The CVC nominates the
IEMs who monitor the Integrity Pact.
182
6. The provision for whistle blowers and their protection is already
in place since 2004 under the Public Interest' Disclosure &
Protection of Informers‟ Resolution (PIDPIR)wherein CVC is the
authority to handle the “whistle blower complaints” and provide
protection to the “whistle blowers”. CVC has been paying
especial attention to complaints received under this Resolution to
investigate them in a time bound manner with due protection to
the complainants.
7. Workflow automation and IT enabling of the functioning of the
Commission is under implementation wherein about 30%
progress has been made. The project is targeted to be
completed by 1st August, 2010. This would enhance the
efficiency of the Commission‟s work besides enhancing data
management.
8. The important developments pertaining to International
Cooperation in Anti Corruption is listed below:
a) India had signed the United Nations Convention against
Corruption in 2005. The CVC had given its comments on the
matter and the government is in the final stages of ratifying the
convention.
183
b) The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), Anti-Bribery Convention aims at tackling corruption in
international business transactions. India has been granted the
„Observer‟ status in the Anti-Bribery Working Group of OECD.
The Commission is in the process of studying the implications of
the Convention for India.
c) The Central Vigilance Commissioner of India has been a member
of the Executive Board of International Association of Anti
Corruption Agencies (IMCA) since 2007.
d) The Parliamentary Committee of Indonesia (consisting of 8 MPs)
which deals with anti corruption had visited the CVC during
March, 2010. The Indonesian Commission wants to engage with
the CVC for further cooperation in the field of anti corruption.
e) The Anti Corruption Commission of Sri Lanka (CIABOC) had
requested the CVC for organising training in investigation for its
officers. Training has been organized in the CBI Academy.
184
ANNEXURE P -11 (COLLY i)
T.S.R. Subramanian
Ex-Cabinet Secretary “Guru Kripa”
to the Government of India 74, Sector 15 A
Noida - 201 301
Phone : 0120 - 4334070
E-mail: [email protected]
May 17, 2010
Dear Dr. Veerappa Moily,
As a civil servant, I was privileged to have occupied senior
positions in the Government, both at the Centre and in the State of my
allotment. Over the past few years, I have been exchanging notes on
an informal basis with a fairly large number of former colleagues who
have similarly retired from the Government at senior levels. These
discussions have highlighted the common and deeply felt concerns at
the sharp and progressive deterioration in the quality of governance
and public administration in India. For those of us who joined service
in the first three decades after independence, this decline seems tragic
and precipitous, pervasive across the spectrum in practically every
sector and too obvious to need repetition.
Sir, as Chairman of the Second Administrative Reforms
Commission, you have expertise and in-depth knowledge of these
issues; and as the Law Minister you are in a unique position to take
steps to implement the much needed and long-overdue reform of
public administration. The fifteen Reports of the Commission, and in
particular. The path-breaking Reports on the Right to Information,
185
Ethics in Governance and Citizen-Centric Administration, contain a
large number of specific recommendations which, if implemented in
letter and spirit, will dramatically improve the substance of
governance, delivery of public services and efficacy of government
policies and programmes. In this context, it was heartening to hear the
Finance Minister say, in his recent Budget Speech in Parliament, that
out of the 800 recommendations of the Second ARC which have been
identified for implementation, 350 have been implemented so far and a
further 450 are under implementation.
Over the years the Government of India, as. well as the State
Governments, have set up a large number of Committees and
Commissions to study and make recommendations on administrative
and civil service reforms. Apart from recommendations dealing with the
structural improvement of the administrative machine and more
efficient methods of personnel management, these Reports have
uniformly stressed the need to preserve the integrity and
independence of the Civil Services and to insulate them from undue
interference from the political establishment. While incremental
reforms have no doubt been made on the basis of these Reports,
largely in relation to operational matters like recruitment, training,
acquisition of domain knowledge, etc., the general and overwhelming
impression is that many of the core recommendations contained in all
these Reports have been dealt with in a routine manner, with cursory
Action Taken Reports being prepared, filed and forgotten. These game
186
- changing recommendations would help to address the pressing issues
of probity, integrity and accountability of the Civil Service, as well as
the preservation of its core values and independence and enable it to
play its appointed role of impartial adviser and faithful implementer of
policies arrived at in a transparent and rational manner, after due
consideration of the pros and cons and keeping in view the
paramountcy of the public interest.
I take the liberty of listing some of these recommendations:
a) The Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption (1962)
had recommended that the annual immovable property
statements, which have been found to serve no useful purpose,
should be replaced by a periodic complete statement of the
assets and liabilities of each Government servant. The Hota
Committee had recommended that the Annual Property Return
of all public servants should be put on the website. Indeed,
there is no reason why the assets of all public servants (civil and
political) should not be made public each year and allowed to be
freely accessed under the RTI Act.
b) Government should be empowered to confiscate the property of
public servants who have unaccounted wealth by enacting the
Corrupt Public Servants (Forfeiture of Property) Bill as suggested
by the Law Commission (Second ARC). This will be fully in
187
keeping with the observations of the Supreme Court in a number
of cases. To this end, Rules should be framed under the Benami
Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, for attachment/forfeiture of
benami / ill-gotten property of corrupt public servants. (Hota
Committee, Second ARC).
c) The Santhanam and Hota Committees had both opined that
Article 311 of the Constitution unjustifiably protracts disciplinary
proceedings against civil servants by mandating a series of
government approvals which lead to frustrating delays.
Disciplinary proceedings involving charges of bribery, corruption
and lack of integrity should be treated as a separate category
under a simplified procedure (Santhanam). Prior sanction should
not be necessary for prosecuting a public servant who has been
trapped red-handed or in cases of possessing assets
disproportionate to the known sources of income (Second ARC).
Article 311 of the Constitution should be amended to enable the
President / Governor to dismiss / remove public servants
summarily in case of corrupt practice / having assets
disproportionate to known source of income. The officer
concerned may be given a post-decisional hearing to prove his
innocence (Hota); the Supreme Court has affirmed the
Constitutional validity of this procedure.
188
d) Politicians should be treated as public servants, subject to
judicial checks and administrative and financial disciplines similar
to those applicable to bureaucrats. The Santhanam Committee
had recommended this way back in 1962 and the Second ARC
has recently suggested that suitable amendments be effected to
the Constitution to provide that the immunity enjoyed by MPs
and MLAs does not cover corrupt acts committed by them in
connection with their duties in the House or otherwise. While the
Supreme Court has also upheld this view, in practice there has
been very little accountability of the political class in terms of the
laws of the land.
e) Much of the deterioration in the standards of probity and
accountability within the civil service can be traced to the
practice of issuing and acting on verbal instructions or oral
orders which are not recorded. It should be made incumbent on
every civil servant to formally record all such instructions /
orders / suggestions which he receives, not only from his
administrative superiors but also from political authorities,
legislators, commercial and business interests and other persons
/ quarters having interest or wielding influence.
f) A comprehensive and tough anti-corruption strategy should be
put in place, including the following elements:
189
g) Immediate compulsory retirement of officials whose record and
reputation is tainted, and prosecution of those against whom
there is evidence of corruption (Hota);
h) Strengthening of powers of the state Vigilance Departments, Lok
Ayukta and the Anti-Corruption branch of the State police
enabling them to effectively initiate and pursue investigations
independently of government direction (Hota, Second ARC);
i) Guaranteed protection of civil servants who expose corrupt
practices (Second ARC) and institution of annual awards for
whistle-blowers in recognition of their contribution in exposing
wrong-doings in the government;
j) Action against corrupt officers cannot be initiated in many states
as the power to sanction prosecution is vested in state
governments. This should be declared a semi-judicial process,
and the powers to sanction prosecution should be vested with a
designated authority, which should pass a time - bound speaking
order on receipt of complaint from CBI or other agencies.
k) A State of Governance Report should be brought out evaluating
the performance of each State on the basis of a set of
parameters of good governance (Hota).
190
l) The Prevention of Corruption Act should be amended to provide
for a special offence of „collusive bribery‟; if it is established that
the interest of the state or public has suffered because of an act
of a public servant, then the court shall presume that the public
servant and the beneficiary of the decision committed an offence
of „collusive bribery‟ (Second ARC).
m) Both the Hota Committee and the Second ARC had
recommended that a new Civil Service Law should be enacted
incorporating a statement of values and a code of ethics for civil
servants with reference to political impartiality, ethical standards
and accountability for actions.
n) Practically all Commissions and Committees dealing with
administrative reform have stressed the need for transfers at all
levels to be handled in a non-political, non-partisan, open and
transparent manner. A rational transfer policy should eliminate
the „transfer industry‟, do away with politicized transfers, curb
the overall incidence of transfers, remove uncertainty and imbue
officers with a certain security of tenure in every post and should
be seen as being fair and objective. Transfers should not be
ordered as punishment; if an employee is found remiss in his
duties, he should be proceeded against departmentally.
191
The Conference of Chief Ministers (1997) had recommended the
constitution of Civil Services Boards in different States presided over by
the respective Chief Secretaries (on the pattern of the Establishment
Board of the Government of India presided over by the Cabinet
Secretary) to assist the political executive and streamline the policy of
transfers and promotions based on identifiable criteria. While some
States have subsequently set up such Boards by executive order, they
have failed to inspire confidence as, more often than not, they have
merely formalized the wishes of their Chief Ministers in matters of
transfer of officials.
Several Committees, including Hota and the Second ARC, have
stressed that a guaranteed minimum tenure for Secretaries to
Government, Heads of Departments and other senior officials is the
only effective solution. Indeed, the Hota Committee had recommended
a statutory barrier to frequent transfer of senior officials through the
establishment of a Civil Services Board / Establishment Board, both in
the States and at the Centre, under a
Civil Services Act. The recommendations of such a Board must
normally be binding on the Government. If, for any reason, the
Government decides not to implement the recommendations, it must
pass a self-contained order on the subject and place a statement on
the Table of the Legislature. These particularly apply to State
Governments.
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Similarly, the Second ARC had recommended the creation of a
Central Civil Services Authority as a statutory body under a Civil
Services Act. The Authority shall be a five-member body consisting of
persons of eminence in public life and professionals with acknowledged
contributions to society appointed by the President on the
recommendation of a Committee consisting of the Prime Minister and
the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The Authority would,
inter alia, formulate norms and guidelines and recommend names of
officers for posting at „Senior Management Levels‟ in the Government.
It would fix tenure for all civil service positions and this should be
binding on the Government. State Governments should take steps to
constitute State Civil Services Authorities on the lines of the Central
Civil Services Authority.
Sir, I apologize in advance for writing such a long letter.
However, a large number of civil servants and members of the general
public are concerned that these eminently sensible recommendations,
made by successive expert Commissions and Committees appointed by
the Government, have remained on paper without being implemented
over long periods of time. My purpose in writing to you is essentially to
ascertain whether and what progress is being / has been made in
implementing these key reforms, which would undoubtedly help to
boost the morale of the higher Civil Services and arrest the decline in
standards of administration and governance which has so sadly
become the norm rather than the aberration today. It would be useful
193
to know whether some of the core recommendations of earlier
Committees, as listed above, are among those which the Government
has taken up for implementation.
Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(T.S.R. Subramanian)
Dr. M. Veerappa Moily,
Minister for Law & Justice,
Ministry of Law and Justice,
4th Floor, A-Wing,
Shastri Shawan,
New Delhi-110 001
TRUE COPY
194
ANNEXURE P -11 (COLLY ii)
T.M. VEERAPPA MOILY
MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
402, „A‟ WING, SHASTRI BHAWAN,
Dr. RAJENDRA PRASAD ROAD
NEW DELHI – 110 015
D.O. No. MLJ/2010/-3173 May 24, 2010
Dear Shri Subramanian ji,
I have received your letter dated 17th May, 2010 and thank you
for the useful suggestions made by you.
2. I would like to meet you some time.
With regards.
Yours sincerely
Sd/-
(Dr. M. Veerappa Moily)
Shri T.S.R. Subramanian,
Ex-Cabinet Secretary to the Govt. of India
74, Sector 15-A,
NOIDA- 201 301
TRUE COPY