Lateral Entry into Government - II

The Founding Fathers felt that India needed a responsible government more than an efficient one

Click here for Part I

What is the issue?

• The DoPT recently issued a notification inviting lateral entry at joint secretary-level posts.
• Lateral entry may impact the basic governance principles of the country.

What is the rationale?

• It is based on assumption that generalists are ill-suited to deal with emerging policy implications.
• It is in terms of dealing with new technologies and new modes of thinking.
• Hence the country is in dire need of domain experts.
• The recent lateral entry policy also aims to augment manpower in the bureaucracy.
• This means that the process would become a part of the regular recruitment.

What are the concerns?

• Understanding - Neither the DoPT nor Ministries concerned cared to define ‘domain expertise’.
• Most of the 10 posts open for lateral entry are generalist in nature.
• Therefore, domain expertise is salient only in a very narrow context.
• But clearly, there cannot be joint secretaries in all branches of a given Ministry.
• Accountability - Most democracies train their higher civil servants to be accountable rather than efficient.
• A civil servant is cautious of answering to a quo warranto writ against alleged action/inaction. 
• In any case, a civil servant is expected to follow the decisions taken by the political executive.
• How far will this be practised by lateral entrants is doubtful.
• Training - Private sector experts becoming joint secretaries may be given a training or orientation.
• However, it may not match the 15-20 years of acculturation/on-job training that regular officers receive.

How will it affect the fundamental principles?

• The Constituent Assembly preferred the parliamentary over the presidential system.
• The parliamentary system is more responsible but less stable.
• The presidential system is more stable but less responsible.
• The country thus opted for responsibility over stability.
• There are methods at disposal to ensure that the government is responsible:

1. independence of judiciary
2. subjecting the executive to constant scrutiny of the legislature
3. maintaining bureaucratic neutrality

• Accountability is a complementary principle to responsibility.
• But the idea of lateral entry seems to be opting for efficiency at the cost of accountability.
• There is no assurance of accountability, bureaucratic neutrality and conformity to due process.

Source: The Hindu