#6: CA-PubAD: Civil Service Neutrality, Data on Vulnerable's Distress and Governors as Chancellors
Paper 2: Civil Service Neutrality, Rural Development, Governor's Office
Can civil servants express their views on law and governance?
Paper-2 Civil Services Neutrality
(article link)
On August 17, Ms. Sabharwal quoted Ms. Bano’s statement and tweeted, “As a woman and a civil servant I sit in disbelief, on reading the news on the #BilkisBanoCase. We cannot snuff out her Right to breathe free without fear, again and call ourselves a free nation. #JusticeForBilkisBano”.
Key Takeaways:
Rule 9 of the Rules of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules states, “No Government servant shall... make any statement of fact or opinion... which has the effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Central Government or a State Government.”
Then Tripura High Court Chief Justice Akil Kureshi - (2020) judgment (Lipika Paul v. The State Of Tripura), “As a Government servant the petitioner is not devoid of her right of free speech, a fundamental right which can be curtailed only by a valid law.” She (the petitioner) was entitled to hold her own beliefs and express them as she desired, subject to not crossing the borders laid down in the Conduct Rules applicable in Tripura. A fundamental right cannot be curtailed except by a valid law made by a legislature.
Creating more transparency about policies through social media is the duty of a government officer. This has to be taken on a case-by-case basis. We need to make a differentiation between what is something that’s going to hurt society, hurt the Constitution, and the rule of law.
Debates concerning the issue:
Rule 9 of Civil Service Conduct rules Vs Article 19 of the Constitution
Civil Service Neutrality Vs Ethics in Civil Service
Non-negotiable Values for a Civil Servant:
The norms that define neutrality are independence of thought and action; honest and objective advice; candor and, ‘speaking truth to power even if it is done in the privacy of a Minister’s chamber. Associated with these norms are the personal values that a civil servant cherishes or ought to cherish, namely, self-respect, integrity, professional pride, and dignity. All these together contribute to the enhancement of the quality of administration that benefits society and the people. (source)
The distress of the Vulnerable
Paper 2: Rural Development
As policymakers navigate the tumultuous global macroeconomic environment, they must be mindful of the highly uneven nature of the recovery and take measures to address the distress of the most vulnerable
pointers to the economic distress at the lower end of the income distribution scale:
In 2019-20, the year before the pandemic, 7.88 crore individuals worked under the MGNREGA scheme. In 2020-21, the first year of the pandemic, this number rose to 11.19 crore. While in the subsequent year it dipped to 10.62 crores, the number of individuals working under the scheme remained considerably higher than in the pre-pandemic period.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau report — there has been a rise in suicides by daily wage earners and in 2021, daily wage earners accounted for a fourth of suicides in the country.
In 2021-22 over 2.3 crores, life insurance policies were surrendered way ahead of their maturity by policyholders — this was more than thrice the number of policies surrendered the previous year.
As per data from SIAM, in 2021-22, sales of two-wheelers were lower than their 2019-20 levels by almost a quarter.
Governors as chancellors: The points of conflict
Paper 2: State Government
State governments and governors have been at loggerheads for half a century. The disagreement is about whether a governor appointed by the Union government has an active role in the state’s administration when the people have given the governance mandate to a popularly elected government.
After the loss of the Congress in the 1967 general elections, the state governments believed that the governor had a constitutional duty to act on the advice of the council of ministers. On the other hand, the governors thought that since their appointment as chancellor of a university was through legislative enactment, they had the right to intervene in the university’s functioning.
the West Bengal Legislature passed a law making the Chief Minister the chancellor of 31 state universities. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have also passed laws limiting the governor’s role in university affairs, and the Kerala Legislature is also mulling such a measure
Two commissions on Centre-state relations appointed by the Government of India have suggested that state legislatures should not appoint governors as chancellors. In 2010, the Punchi commission stated that when governors act as chancellors, it opens their office to controversies and public criticism.
Recommendations to improve Governor’s office:Sarkaria Commission Report (1988): Governor should be a detached figure without intense political links or should not have taken part in politics in the recent past, Governors must not be removed before completion of their five-year tenure, except in rare and compelling circumstances
Venkatachaliah Commission (2002): Governor’s appointment should be entrusted to a committee comprising the prime minister, the home minister, the speaker of the Lok Sabha, and the chief minister of the concerned state, if the governor is to be removed before completion of the term, the central government should do so only after consultation with the Chief Minister.
Punchhi Commission (2010): The phrase “during the pleasure of the President” should be deleted from the Constitution; Governor should be removed only by a resolution of the state legislature.