Role of Civil Services in Democracy

What the official syllabus says

GPSC Main Examination, Paper V: General Studies-II, (B) Governance and Social Justice:

• Role of Civil Services in Democracy.

Topics in detail

Constitutional and legal framework

• Services under the Union and the States (Part XIV, Articles 308 to 323)
• Recruitment and conditions of service (Article 309); doctrine of pleasure (Article 310)
• Safeguards against dismissal, removal or reduction in rank (Article 311)
• All-India services (Article 312): IAS and IPS, deemed by Article 312(2) to be services created by Parliament; Indian Forest Service (constituted in 1966); All India Services Act, 1951
• State civil services: in Gujarat, the Gujarat Administrative Service, Class-1 and the Gujarat Civil Service, Class-1 and Class-2
• Conduct rules: political neutrality, integrity, restrictions on public comment

Role in a democracy

• Implementing the policies of the elected government
• Advice in policy formulation; continuity and institutional memory
• Regulatory and law-and-order functions
• Development administration and delivery of welfare
• Disaster response and crisis management
• The civil servant at the district: Collector, District Development Officer, Superintendent of Police
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's defence of the all-India services in the Constituent Assembly; Civil Services Day on 21 April, marking his address to administrative service probationers in 1947

Values and principles

• Political neutrality and impartiality
• Anonymity and ministerial responsibility
• Accountability to the legislature, the courts and citizens
• Commitment to constitutional values
• Generalist and specialist roles
• Representation: reservation in recruitment and the place of women in the services
• Responsiveness to weaker sections in implementing welfare and protective laws

Issues

• Politicisation and frequent transfers
• Corruption and the role of vigilance bodies
• Red tape, rule-bound behaviour and resistance to change
• Lateral entry and domain expertise
• Performance appraisal and promotion
• Relations between civil servants and elected representatives

Accountability mechanisms

• Ministerial responsibility to the legislature; parliamentary and assembly committees
• Departmental inquiries and disciplinary rules; vigilance and audit
• Judicial review of administrative action; administrative tribunals
• Right to Information, citizen's charters and right-to-service laws

Committees on recruitment and reform

• Kothari Committee (1976): the three-stage examination (preliminary, main, interview) adopted from 1979
• Satish Chandra Committee (1989) and Y. K. Alagh Committee (2001): reviews of the examination
• Hota Committee (2004): civil services reforms, including performance appraisal

Reforms

• Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2005), especially its report on refurbishing personnel administration
• Mission Karmayogi: national programme for civil services capacity building (2020)
• Training institutions: LBSNAA, Mussoorie; in Gujarat, the Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA), Ahmedabad
• Citizen-centric administration and outcome-based performance
• Civil service neutrality in a coalition and multi-party setting
• Use of technology for transparency in transfers, postings and service delivery

Overlaps

Ethics, integrity and the values of public service are the subject of General Studies-IV.