ADVERTISEMENTS:
Read this essay to learn about:- 1. Introduction to Public Service Commission 2. Composition of the Public Service Commission 3. Independence 4. Functions 5. Changes Contemplated in Recruitment by the UPSC and State Commissions 6. Annual Report of the Commission (A.R.C.) 7. Earlier A.R.C.’s Recommendations 8. A.R.C.’s Recommendations (2008) and Others.
Essay # 1. Introduction to Public Service Commission:
The Public Service Commission’s came into existence for the first time in 1926 when the Central Public Service Commission was established under the Government of India Act, 1919. It was renamed as the Federal Public Service Commission after 1st April, 1937, on the introduction of Government of India Act, 1935. This Act had also made a provision for the creation of Provincial Public Service Commissions.
Our present Constitution provides for a Public Service Commission for the Union and a Public Service Commission for each State, but it also provides that if the legislatures of two or more States authorize the Parliament by resolutions, it may establish a Joint Commission for those States.
Moreover, the Union Public Service Commission may also if requested by the Governor of a State agree with the approval of the President to perform the work of a State Commission.
Essay # 2. Composition of the Public Service Commission:
The number of members constituting the Union Public Service Commission or of a Joint Public Service Commission and the conditions of their service are determined by the President of India and in the case of State Public Service Commission by the Governor of the State concerned by regulations.
The authorized strength of UPSC including chairman is 10. At present there are 10 members—9 members and one chairman. There are usually 3 to 4 members of the state commission besides the chairman. The members of UPSC and of the Joint Commission are appointed by the President and those of State Public Service Commission by the Governor.
It has been further provided that one-half of the members of the Commission, Union or State, must have held office for at least ten years either under the Government of India or the Government of a State.
A member holds office for six years or until he attains, in case of the UPSC, the age of 65 years and in the case of State Commission, the age of 60 years, whichever is earlier. The commission has its own staff. Its senior staff comprises one Secretary, one controller examination, one joint secretary, eight deputy secretaries, twenty-eight under-secretaries and one Finance and Accounts Officer.
Essay # 3. Independence of the Public Service Commission:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The Public Service Commission is an independent statutory body constituted under Article 315 (1) of the Constitution of India. In order to emphasize and ensure the independence of State Commission, the Constitution debars its Chairman for further employment either under the Government of India or the Government of a State.
A member other than the Chairman of the Union Commission, is, however, eligible for appointment as chairman in that Commission or of a State Public Service Commission, but for no other Government employment.
The Chairman of a State Public Service Commission is eligible for appointment as the Chairman or as a member of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of any other State Public Service Commission.
A member of the State Commission is eligible for appointment as the chairman or as a member of the Union Commission or as a chairman of that or any other State Commission.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Second, Article 317 of our Constitution provides that the chairman or a member of a Commission can be removed from office by order of the President on the ground of misbehavior only after the Supreme Court, on a reference being made to it by the President, has on enquiry reported that the chairman or the member should be removed from office.
A chairman or member would be deemed guilty of misbehavior, if he becomes interested in any Government contract or agreement or participates in any way in its profit or in any monetary benefit arising from it otherwise than as a member and in common with the other members of any incorporated company.
The same Article also provides that President may by order remove from office the chairman or any other member of the Public Service Commission, if he is adjudged as an insolvent or engages during his term of office in any paid employment outside the duties of his office or is in his opinion infirm in mind or body.
Third, the conditions of the service of a member cannot be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment and his salary and other emoluments are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or the State as the case may be and they are not votable by the Parliament or the State legislature concerned.
Essay # 4. Functions of the Public Service Commission:
In the initial stages, the Commissions were created to keep the rascals out—a sort of negative role. However, with the passage of time its role became positive. It hunts for talent. In our country the commissions were so designed that they could not go beyond advisory role. Personnel development has never been its concern.
The functions of the Commission as prescribed in Article 320 of the Constitution fall into two categories:
(a) Administrative
(b) Advisory.
The administrative functions relate to recruitment to all Civil Services and posts under the Union Government or the State Government by written examination, or/and by interview.
The Advisory functions relate to advising the Government on all matters:
(i) Relating to the methods of recruitment, principles to be followed in making appointments to civil services and posts and making promotions and transfers from one service to another;
(ii) All disciplinary matters affecting Government employees. About three hundred such cases are referred to it annually;
(iii) Any claim by or in respect of persons who are servants or have served under the government in a civil capacity;
(iv) For reimbursement of any expenses incurred by them in defending legal proceedings instituted against them in respect of their official acts and in any claims for the award of compensation in respect of injuries sustained by Government servants while on duty;
(v) Relating to temporary appointments for periods exceeding one year but not exceeding three years, grant of extension of service and re-employment of certain retired servants. More than 1000 cases of this type are referred to it every year;
(vi) Concerning matters like regularization of appointments;
(vii) Matters referred specifically to it by the President. It is usually obligatory for the Government to consult the Commission in all the above matters. The President can, however, make regulations specifying the matters in which either generally or in any particular circumstances or classes of cases, it shall not be necessary for the government to consult the Commission.
Such regulations have to be placed before the Parliament. Article 321 of the Constitution further lays down that an act made by the Parliament may provide for the exercise of additional functions by UPSC in respect of the services of the Union and also in respect of the services of any local authority or other body-corporate constituted by law or any public institution.
A conference of chairmen and members of the Union and State Public Service Commissions held in 1977, suggested that the commissions should be vested with appellate jurisdiction as well in all service matters concerning civil servants as in other countries. This will provide security to the government servants who sometimes have a grouse that they did not receive justice at the hands of their departments.
According to Dr. A.R. Kidwai, former Chairman of the UPSC, such a step would eliminate 90% of litigations involving civil services who feel aggrieved with government decisions and resort to legal course.
Essay # 5. Changes Contemplated in Recruitment by the UPSC and State Commissions:
(i) A new orientation is sought to be given to the recruitment policy in order to remove the impression that the recruitment had an elitist basis. Hence other things being equal, preference should be given to the candidates coming from rural and backward areas and those belonging to minority communities and to poor families.
(ii) The Union Home Minister should commend to the Chief Minister, the policy of judging candidates on the basis of intrinsic merit and potentiality rather than on the basis of their articulation and sophisticated manners.
(iii) The Commission should open more centres and organize opportunities for all candidates to appear in simple, objective type tests in order to assess effectively their intrinsic merit and potentiality.
(iv) The merit examination scheme may be revived so that examinations in various disciplines may be organised on the pattern of Britain’s Open University method which enable the candidates to prepare themselves without attending educational institutions. Thus the system would replace the current insistence on degrees as minimum qualification.
Essay # 6. Annual Report of the Commission (A.R.C.):
The Constitution provides that it is the duty of the Union Public Service Commission and the State Public Service Commission to present annually to the President or the Governor as the case may be report of its work.
Immediately after the receipt of such a report, the President or the Governor is required to lay it before each House of Parliament or the State legislature together with a memorandum of the cases where the advice of the Commission was not accepted and reasons for such non-acceptance.
It may be remembered that though technically the selection of candidates by the Public Service Commission is only in the nature of recommendation to the government which is free to accept or reject; yet the advice of the Commission is as a rule accepted by the Government and the number of cases in which the Commission’s advice is not accepted is really negligible.
The Commission in its 10th report presented to the Parliament on December 21, 1960, regretted that irregular appointments and delayed references to the Commission by government continued to occur despite its comments on these practices in the earlier reports.
The Commission cited various instances of irregular appointments and delayed references to it and said that though the UPSC (Exemption from Consultation) Regulations of 1958 exempted the government from consulting the Commission in respect of temporary or officiating appointments not exceeding one year duration, yet they provided that such appointments should be reported to the Commission as soon as they have been made.
But the Commission regretted that the cases continue to occur not only where consultation with it had been inordinately delayed but where appointments made were irregular from the beginning.
In a recent report, it resented the Central Government’s action of keeping the recruitment of certain categories of technocrats outside the purview of the U.P.S.C. It expressed annoyance over the ad hoc appointments made by the government departments, on temporary basis. Such attempts on the part of the government curb the powers of the Public Service Commissions.
Essay # 7. Earlier A.R.C.’s Recommendations on the Reform of the Public Service Commission:
The A.R.C. made certain recommendations regarding the composition and powers of the U.P.S.C. and State Public Service Commissions to ensure their independent character and efficient mode of working.
Its main recommendations are as follows:
I. (i) In appointing members of State Public Service Commission the Governor should consult the Chairman of the U.P.S.C. and also the Chairman of the State Public Service Commission. The latter may be consulted regarding appointment of his successor,
(ii) In appointing members of the U.P.S.C. the Chairman of the U.P.S.C should be consulted (even when the appointment deals with his own successor),
(iii) Not less than 2/3rds of the members of the U.P.S.C should be drawn from among the Chairman and Members of the State P.S.Cs.
(iv) At least one of the members of a State P.S.C. should belong to a different state,
(v) The minimum academic qualifications for a member of the commission should be a graduate,
(vi) A member selected out of government officials should have held such an office for at least ten years. Only secretary or head of a department or person holding a post equivalent to this rank or a comparable post in the Institution of higher education should be eligible,
(vii) Members selected from non-officials should have practiced at least for 10 years in any recognized profession, viz., Law, Medicine, Engineering, Science, Technology, Accountancy or Administration.
II. (i) The commission should be consulted by the Government before keeping certain matters regarding consultation with it beyond its purview.
(ii) The U.P.S.C. should be associated with the selection of personnel and their promotion within the quasi-government bodies entirely or substantially financed by government.
(iii) In all cases, the U.P.S.C. should develop an adequate system of reporting and inspection in order to ensure that at least minimum standards are maintained in selection and promotions which fell short of such minimum standard.
(iv) State Public Service Commissions should be equipped with similar powers over quasi- government institutions falling within the jurisdiction of their respective State Governments.
(v) Research cells should be set up in the P.S.Cs. to appraise the effectiveness of recruitment by follow-up studies and to analyze trends in the skill market and in the educational sphere and to provide data for determining the recruitment policies.
Essay # 8. A.R.C.’s Recommendations (2008):
The ARC has asked the government to test civil services aspirants in first one or two general studies papers at the civil service Preliminary examination and scrap two dozen optional papers. In fact, in February 2008 the UPSC had handed over its proposals for changes in the Civil Services Examination. A key proposal of the UPSC was to replace the civil services examination with an aptitude test (CSAT).
The UPSC was of the view that CSAT would enable them to choose civil servants with the necessary aptitude but also end the use of sealing system. The Department of Personnel and Training had passed on the proposal to the ARC for its views. The ARC has supported the demand for scrapping the 23 optional papers. Instead it has recommended to test the candidates knowledge in one of two general studies papers.
It helps UPSC office Jo cut down the time taken to evaluate the performance of approximately two lakhs aspirants for the highest civil job. Presently the entire selection process takes about a year. If these recommendation are accepted the candidates will have to prepare only General Studies and not divide their concentration by preparing an optional subject as well as General studies.
Essay # 9. Early Recommendations of A.R.C. regarding Recruitment System:
The Administrative Reforms Commission also found faults with our recruitment policy and procedures and made following recommendations to remove their defects:
(i) There should be a single combined competitive examination to the all-India and nontechnical Central Class I services, the candidates may indicate their order of preferences for such services.
(ii) Since the basic qualifications and the mental calibre of the candidates is the same, it is rather artificial to create, right at the start of the careers of these officers, a permanent hiatus between the I.A.S./I.F.S. on the one hand and all the Central services on the other.
Such a hiatus produces unhealthy psychological reactions in all concerned. The choice of service should therefore be left to the personal preferences of the candidates. Re-allocation from one service to another would be possible if latter experience indicates that necessity.
(iii) The age limit for the entrance to the competitive examination may be raised from 24 to 26 years. This is to attract more mature persons to the civil services.
(iv) The First Class Graduates are kept away from the competitive examinations. Hence special methods will have to be devised to attract them towards the civil service. A special test for all 1st class Graduates or Post-Graduates should be held.
This special test should comprise a written test of a non-academic type followed by an oral test conducted by a Surveying Board. However, final selection should be made by the Union Public Service Commission.
Some of these recommendations of ARC have since been accepted by the Government of India. To accommodate students from the rural background maximum age was raised from 24 to 26 years in 1972 and at a later stage to 28 (1979) and again since 1986 reduced to 26 now raise to 28.
The number of papers for all services is the same and marks for viva also the same. Obviously IAS and IPS can no longer claim superiority over other services and thus hurt the ego of non IAS Central services. The rest of the recommendations also are worth consideration.
In pursuance of Satish Chandra Committee Report, 1989, an Easy paper carrying 200 marks has been introduced w.e.f. 1994 examination and the marks for the personality test were increased from 250 to 300. The maximum age limit was increased to 30 years by the Vajpayee Government.
On July 19, 2000 the Union Public Service Commission appointed a nine member committee headed by well-known economist Prof. Y.K. Alagh to examine the present scheme of civil service examination and recommend changes.
The Alagh committee which submitted its report on October 22, 2001 to the chairman, UPSC, appreciated the recruitment system for the higher services but pointed out certain lacunae of the system and gave suggestions for improvement.
(a) The social cost of the examination was found to be highly excessive.
(b) Interviews based personality test system requires replacement by more elaborate and objective methodology.
(c) There is necessity of post-induction training and issues relating to management of services should be taken care of
(d) It criticized repeated attempts allowed to the candidates.
(e) It designed a scheme which kept in view the younger candidates with the desired quantities of heart and merit for taking away the civil services from negative influences and converting them into instruments of reform while ensuring continuity, stability and security.
(f) The committee favoured the introduction of psychological tests.
(g) Two optional subjects for written examination be abandoned. Instead a paper on general knowledge be introduced and mathematical aptitude be judged. Paper on language be introduced.
Essay # 10. Another Committee Under P.C. Hota Feb, 3 2004:
The Committee composed of 16 members under the chairmanship of Hota submitted its report to the UPA Government, Cabinet Secretary on July 30, 2004. The committee was established to make civil services responsive, transparent and accountable and also protect him from undue pressure of politicians and business and vested interests.
It made 68 recommendations some of the most important recommendations are stated:
(i) The Government should go back to age of eligibility from 21 to 24 in place of 21 to 30 years.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(ii) Entrance examination for civil services should be after XII class.
(iii) There should be midterm appraisal of officers and those considered unfit be removed. Incompetence and impeachable integrity will be the consideration for the removal. Periodic reviews is apt to prove better than the present ACRs system.
(v) Modification of official secrets Act is needed.
(vi) Introduction of more women in higher civil services is desired.
It is earnestly hoped that the recommendations of Hota Committee will get every consideration at the hand of the present which is again headed by a learned and visionary Prime Minister, the government.