To change the growing perception that there is a lack of accountability regarding performance and misdeeds of civil servants, the Modi Government has brought in reforms that are expected to foster professionalism and competence, says Devesh Chaturvedi

The civil services have contributed immensely to nation-building since India’s Independence, yet they are criticised for resisting changes, stifling innovation and being oblivious to external realities. There is also a growing perception that there’s a lack of performance accountability and that misdeeds of civil servants often go unpunished. To address these challenges, the Government, in the last five years, has initiated a series of reforms that have impacted almost all sections of the bureaucracy.

Keeping the sanctity of the recruitment process in the civil services is a must to ensure that freshers do not develop a cynical attitude. The Government realised that personality tests or interviews did not add any value to the recruitment process at the lower levels of bureaucracy. Instead, they only created a subjectivity which often led to corruption and nepotism. Hence, it decided to discontinue with the interviews in the recruitments for Group C and Group B non-gazetted posts. Many State Governments also followed suit. The results have been quite encouraging as the candidates have been pleasantly surprised for having been selected on merit without resorting to payment of bribes or using undue influence.

The Fundamental Rule 56-J and All-India Death-Cum- Retirement Benefit rules provide that the Government can prematurely retire any civil servant after giving three months’ notice. However, for years, these provisions for screening of deadwood were not being implemented. These rules are now being implemented and a thorough screening of service records of officials by a committee is helping identify non-performers. This exercise has sent a message that there is a premium attached to both performance and probity.

It was also noticed that the cadre-allotment policies were weakening the all-India character of the services and were detrimental to the spirit of cooperative federalism. The officers were being allotted cadres based on choice. This resulted in officers landing either in their home or adjoining cadre, thus fostering inertia and a hesitation to serve on central deputation in the Government. In fact, the services were slowly being converted into glorified State services.

The Government brought a reformed cadre allotment policy in 2017, based on a roster for five regions in which all the cadres were clubbed, thus ensuring that the all-India character of the services was restored. It also encouraged officers who have served in cadres other that their domicile, to opt for central deputation.

It was also noticed that freshly-recruited IAS officers got important field-level posts like that of District Magistrate, Chief Executive Officer of Zila Parishads and Municipal Corporations for the first 10 to 12 years of their service. However, they often lacked the national perspective while serving at the grassroots and this hampered their effectiveness. To address this issue, since 2015, freshly-recruited IAS officers are being deputed as Assistant Secretaries in the Government of India for three months immediately after their academy training and just before they go back to their respective State cadres for field postings. Experience has shown that this innovation helped young officers imbibe a national perspective that helped them address local issues holistically and with confidence.

Further, the performance of civil servants was measured primarily through the elaborate system of Performance Appraisal Reports (PARs). It was realised that due to the complete disclosure of PARs to the officers assessed, there was widespread grade inflation. Officers were being over-assessed and rated outstanding, notwithstanding their performance. PAR had become a public relations exercise with supervisory officers reluctant to give lower rating for fear of strained relations at the workplace. This had an adverse impact on the empanelment of officers at the Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and Secretary or equivalent levels. It became difficult to distinguish high performers from others. The Government, therefore, implemented the process of Multi Source Feedback (MSF) or 360 degree appraisal, which is used along with the PARs to assess the suitability of officers for higher positions in the Government. This was also recommended by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, as well as the Surendranath Committee on Performance Appraisal Reforms.

This intervention created ripples in bureaucratic circles as the feedback about officers was obtained from peers, subordinates and seniors on various personality attributes. The success of this intervention will, however, be judged by the resulting inclusion of errors in the reformed empanelment process, since the exclusion errors can be corrected by subsequent reviews.

There was also a demand for lateral infusion of talent from outside to enrich Government policy processes. The high echelons of policy-making are primarily manned by officers from three sources. The Indian Administrative Services (IAS), other participating All India and Central services and the Central Secretariat Services (CSS). The Government decided to bring in talent from outside through lateral recruitment at the Joint Secretary Level. Ten such positions were thrown open and recruitment were done through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). It will be interesting to watch their contributions and amalgamation in the working of the Government. This reform is likely to generate a healthy competition among peers, fostering professionalism, efficiency and competencies in the policy-making process.

While these reforms were aimed at bringing in accountability in performance and conduct, the Government also addressed rising concerns related to the policy paralysis resulting from risk averseness among the civil services. Significantly, the risk awareness was brought on by multiple investigations by anti-corruption agencies in various cases. The amendments in the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 passed in 2018 has provisions that are aimed at protecting honest and well-meaning civil servants. The provision of prior approval for initiating any investigation and deletion of Section 13 (1) d(iii) of the Act were a result of the Government’s resolve to send a message that bonafide commercial decision will be defended and civil servants may go ahead with bold decision making in public interest. These reforms are expected to bring in the desired accountability, professionalism and competencies in the civil services to meet modern day challenges.

(The writer is Principal Secretary, Medical, Health & Family Welfare Department, in Uttar Pradesh Govt.)