The government means me, not the officers working under me,” a minister in the Cabinet of Maharashtra declared. The secretary to the ministry, a respected civil servant had told the minister that he could not cherry-pick projects for clearance but had to follow due process as required by statute. He was transferred. In the same state, another official had started taking action against builders who were duping buyers by selling flats with a smaller carpet area than was promised. He was transferred within a year of assuming office. He had filed cases against 16 prominent builders in Mumbai for short-changing buyers.
In J&K, a civil servant, Muhammad Iqbal Khanday opted for voluntary retirement from the post of chief secretary because he had “been reduced to a stenographer” by the PDP-BJP government. Things are no better at the Centre, either. Bureau-crats are seeking postings in their cadre states. The Indian Constitution contains provisions for the security of tenure of civil servants and for the proper transaction of government business which ensures against personal rule.
The rules of business prescribe clearly the roles and functions of ministers and civil servants. Their raison d’être was fully explained by the SC in 1970. “The minister is not expected to burden himself with day-to-day administration. His primary function is to lay down policies while the Council of Ministers settle major programmes of the government.” Ministers lay down policies. They do not decide individual cases. B.K. Nehru of the ICS wrote: “The root of the maladministration from which India is suffering is due to the increasing practice of ministers not concerning themselves much with policy but focussing on individual cases. There are many reasons why ministers prefer to decide individual cases instead of formulating policy…”
“Another reason for ministers interfering in individual cases is political support. The financial corruption among ministers has reached scandalous proportions. A minister who refrains from deciding individual cases is likely to remain a poor man.” The minister has three powers which he abuses to suborn the civil servant — transfer, suspension and promotion. In Britain, B.K. Nehru pointed out: “All appointments are made by an independent civil service commission. The subsequent career of the civil servant does not depend on any minister, but on a group of civil servants themselves.”
“All appointments, postings, transfers, promotion and disciplinary action are decided by the head of the civil service department, in consultation with a group of senior secretaries. For the senior-most appointments the approval of the PM is taken...” One of the framers of India’s Constitution, Vallabhbhai Patel foresaw the peril if the independence of the civil service is undammed. “I see a tendency today in several provinces. The services are told ‘No, you are servicemen, you must carry out our orders’.”
“You will not have a united India, if you do not have a good all-India service which has the independence to speak its mind...” “Today, my secretary can write a note opposed to my views. I have given that freedom, to all my secretaries. I have told them, ‘if you do not give your honest opinion for fear that it will displease your minister, please then you had better go. I will bring another secretary’. I will never be displeased over a frank expression of opinion.”
The writer is an author and lawyer based in Mumbai
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