Mangaluru: The Centre’s proposal to amend rules for service and
cadre allocation under the Union Public Service Commission (
UPSC) has not gone down well with former
bureaucrats,
civil service aspirants and their tutors alike.
They fear the proposal, if implemented, may dent the high degree of integrity the UPSC has so far maintained.
Currently, civil service aspirants are allotted services, including in the
IAS, IPS, IFS and IRS, solely based on their performances in the mains and interview round of the UPSC civil service examination. However, if the proposal from the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) becomes a reality, the selected candidates will also be judged on their performance in the foundation course that will run for 15 weeks at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, in addition to their performance in the examination. A cross section of people believe this, in all likelihood, will pave way for corruption, as influential candidates may use illegal means to get into the most preferred services.
“The current practice is working reasonably well. I don’t see a need for a change. The proposal, if implemented, will give room for favouritism and bias. There is every chance of lobbying. The ideological background of a candidate prior to his joining the service may also play a role in deciding his service and cadre allocation,” opined P R Rao, a former IAS officer, who now trains civil service aspirants in Bengaluru.
He, however, said it is too early to comment on the issue, as the proposal is to come up for discussion at various levels before implementation.
According to Rao, the proposal was first mooted by the Kothari Committee in the 1970s. However, the then government had quashed it.
Suresh M S, director, Sarvajna IAS Academy, too, believes the transparency maintained by the UPSC in its examinations will fade away if the new rules are enforced. “Chances of high profile candidates and those keeping officials at the training academy in good humour getting preferential treatment are high,” he said. However, he also said the foundation course will help pick more suitable candidates if it is conduced in a fair manner.
A civil service aspirant from Mysuru too expressed her reservations on the matter. “I am not okay with officials in Mussoorie judging me or any other candidate for the service we are to be allotted, because needless to say, the favouritism factor will chip in. The ones who do not keep the officials in good humour during the foundation course will certainly invite their wrath. And certainly, this will reflect in the candidate’s service allocation,” she said.
A letter dated May 17 by Vijoy Kumar Singh, joint secretary, department of personnel and training, to various departments, said the PMO wanted them to consider the following suggestion: “To examine if service allocation or cadre allocation to probationers selected on the basis of civil services examination be made after the foundation course, examine the feasibility of giving due weightage to the performance in the foundation course and making service allocation as well as cadre allocation based on the combined score.”