 "The pioneer looks to exit the stage")
Four years after the government began an exercise to weed out 'deadwood' among senior bureaucrats, it has made a surprising discovery-there is almost none in that bracket.
After the Supreme Court prodding, a report was prepared on competence of the officers holding top posts at the Centre and in the state governments. The outcome of the report means that even as the Narendra Modi-led government shows keenness to bring in fresh talent from outside the government, the bureaucracy does not feel there is any space to do so.
The review has been compiled by the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions. It is the result of an intensive two-stage exercise carried out by all state governments among their direct recruit and promoted Indian Administrative Service officers. The results show that out of 1,089 IAS officers, both direct recruits and those who have come up through the ranks, and have completed at least 15 years of service (half have completed 25 years) only two are fit to be asked to opt for premature retirement. Of them, a final decision on one officer from Haryana cadre is 'awaited', while another one from the AGMUT cadre has been shown the door.
All others are fit and competent enough to complete their career as public servants till their retirement. Significantly, in April, the customs and central excise services terminated 15 officers from its roll for a variety of reasons, including misdemeanours.
Former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra said "the government carries a lot of NPAs in its ranks. But, the process of writing confidential reports has become so suspect that it's impossible to weed them out. I am not surprised the exercise produced only two fall guys".
In January 2012, the central government changed one of the clauses of the All India Services rules. With the change, the government got the powers to ask an officer of the All India Services ( IAS and IPS) to retire in public interest, "after giving such Member at least three months' previous notice in writing or three months' pay and allowances in lieu of such notice".
The change was a result of mounting public outcry over officers who were simply carrying through with the motions of their work - the ministry of personnel described them as passengers. "It is sometimes found that a few members of the All-India Services do tend to become mere passengers in the post or at the level in which a member is placed for the time being. They become either stale or listless," reads a note issued by the ministry.
The other reason was when an officer's integrity is suspect. "In some other cases, information may be available which casts grave doubt upon the integrity," it added. The Centre's position was also bolstered by the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of state of Gujarat vs Umedbhai M Patel in 2001. "Whenever the services of a public servant are no longer useful to the general administration, the officer can be compulsorily retired for the sake of public interest," the judgment had noted.
ALL STACKED UP
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Four years ago, the government began an exercise to weed out 'deadwood' among senior bureaucrats
-
All state governments carried out an intensive two-stage exercise among their direct recruits and promoted Indian Administrative Service officers
-
The results show that out of 1,089 IAS officers, both direct recruits and those who have come up through the ranks, and have completed at least 15 years of service, only two are fit to be asked to opt for premature retirement
-
Of them, a final decision on one officer from Haryana cadre is 'awaited', while another one from the AGMUT cadre has been shown the door
