NEW DELHI: Faced with the pulls and pressures of running a coalition government and a resurgent Opposition, the Modi 3.0 seems to be dragging its feet on major policy decisions ever since it assumed office this summer. The latest in the series is the Union government’s retreat on lateral entry appointments into civil services after coming under fire for not extending reservations for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates. Succumbing to the pressure from the Opposition INDIA bloc and NDA allies JD (U), LJP (Ramvilas) and HAM, the Central government early this week, directed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to cancel an advertisement for 45 lateral entry jobs in senior bureaucratic posts and mid-level government posts.The rollback came within three days of publishing the advert, which sought experts to fill the posts of joint secretary, director and deputy secretary across 24 departments/ministries either through contract or deputation. It said experienced individuals from state and UT governments, research institutes, PSUs, universities and the private sector were eligible to apply.What is lateral entryWhile lateral entry appointments in bureaucracy is a decades old debate, it refers to recruitments from outside service cadres, to fill mid- and senior-level positions in Central or state ministries. The government says it wants to bring in the much-needed administrative reforms by recruiting people with either domain expertise or those with experience in policy-making or managerial skills for very specific roles.In 2017, NITI Aayog, in its three-year Action Agenda, and the Sectoral Group of Secretaries (SGoS) on Governance in its report submitted in February 2017, recommended the induction of people at middle and senior management levels in the Union government. As per the recommendations, those who are recruited through this process would be part of the Central secretariat. They would be domain experts and can be recruited from private companies, PSUs or state governments. Candidates are hired on contracts for 3-5 years.The Modi government, which formally introduced lateral entry recruitment in 2018, has filled 63 posts so far under the scheme. The appointments sparked a row in 2019, after Opposition parties and Dalit civil servants pointed out that such candidates were not subject to reservation.However, lateral entry questions have been extensively addressed by previous Administrative Reforms Commissions, Finance Commission, and various expert committees.UPSC cancelling lateral entry a victory of social justice: CM StalinThe First Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC), established in 1966 under the chairmanship of former prime minister Morarji Desai laid the groundwork for future discussions on the need for specialised skills within the civil services. While it did not specifically advocate lateral entry, it emphasised specialisation, training and personnel management reforms.However, the concept of lateral entry was first introduced under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and strongly endorsed by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC), established in 2005 and chaired by senior Congress leader and former Union law minister M Veerappa Moily.Speaking to this newspaper, Moily said though the second ARC chaired by him recommended lateral entry into government services, the present NDA dispensation was not following the guidelines in their letter and spirit. One of the main recommendations was on setting up a Civil Services Authority to recruit candidates from inside and outside the system who have specialised knowledge and skills, he said.“We recommended lateral entry into higher levels of government services such as additional secretaries. First, a Central Civil Services Authority should be set up for this process. The UPSC is not competent or mature enough to recruit candidates in the higher levels,” he said adding that the recruitments to posts such as joint secretary/directors are not desirable through lateral entry schemes.“The appointment process should be done in a most transparent and objective manner. My suggestion was that their report should be submitted to Parliament,” he said.“We proposed all this after studying various existing models in the US, Australia, Britain and others. We thoroughly examined all models. We also suggested that lateral entry can’t be an ad-hoc system. The pick and choose model won’t work,” he said, adding that the government hasn’t adopted any recommendation by the ARC.Speaking to this paper, former IAS officer and author Anil Swarup said that though he is not against the lateral entry scheme, the manner and the process is critical in recruiting experts from outside the system. “UPSC was considered to be absolutely above board till a few years ago. The recent controversy has put a question mark on its credibility. Should such an institution be tasked to recruit lateral entrants at senior positions just through an interview? Will reservation for various categories be maintained?” he wondered.Quota row and DoPT rulesWhile there is an argument that lateral entry for specialist positions should choose efficiency over equity, Moily said any appointment in the Union or the state government will be always subjected to reservation. “That is the Constitutional requirement,” he said, adding that in his ARC report, it was recommended that opportunities should be given to the serving officers along with people who are coming from outside. “Reservation is a Constitutional provision and it need not be stated in the report or the recommendation. It goes without saying,” said Moily.While asking the UPSC to withdraw the advertisement on lateral entry appointments, Union minister Jitendra Singh wrote that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed that the “process of lateral entry must be aligned with the principles of equity and social justice enshrined in our Constitution, particularly concerning the provisions of reservation”.The minister also said that reservation was not extended to the 45 advertised posts “since these positions have been treated as specialised and designated as single-cadre posts”. He was referring to the DoPT rules, which say that under the lateral entry scheme, “each post needs special qualification and experience to suit the requirement of each department/ministry where the post is to be filled up,” and reservation did not apply to such single posts.Though the 1978 DoPT rules exempt deputation or transfer postings from reservation, experts say that the government overlooked the fact that the rule called for reservations when the number of posts are substantial.“The government should endeavour to see that a fair proportion of such posts are filled by” SCs/STs when the number of posts to be filled by deputation is “fairly substantial”, says the rule. According to the DoPT rules, government appointments could be exempted from the reservation policy only if they are temporary roles for less than 45 days.Speaking to this paper, former IAS officer and author P Sivakami said that the motive of the government is to subvert reservation of the SC/ST and OBCs. “By bringing in expertise from outside, they are also trying to subvert reservation provision,” said Sivakami who quit service in 2008 after facing discrimination.Political implicationsThe Centre’s U-turn on the lateral entry issue is perceived as a political move ahead of the assembly elections in four states. BJP insiders say that the party is treading cautiously on ‘social justice politics’ after setbacks in the Lok Sabha election results in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Post result surveys showed that the Opposition’s ‘save Constitution’ campaign in the run up to the general elections propelled the SC/ST coalitions and minorities to vote against the BJP. The government did not want the Opposition and its own allies to escalate the lateral entry appointment issue, said sources.While the Opposition parties claimed moral victory after the withdrawal of the advertisement, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP of launching a “double attack on the reservation”. “As part of a well-planned conspiracy, the BJP is deliberately making such recruitments in jobs so that SC, ST, OBC categories can be kept away from the reservation.” He alleged that casual and contractual recruitment had increased by 91% and posts for SC and OBC communities had decreased by 1.3 lakh by 2022-23. “The SC, ST, OBC, and EWS posts will now be given to people of the RSS,” he alleged.Rahul campaign forced govt to roll back lateral entry, claims KhargeLeader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi also accused the government of ‘snatching away’ posts from those belonging to SC, ST and OBC communities. “Lateral entry is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis. BJP’s distorted version of Ram Rajya seeks to destroy the Constitution and snatch reservations from Bahujans,” he wrote in a post on X.Top appointments in the pastBJP ministers argue that during the UPA rule, economists like Manmohan Singh and former RBI governor Bimal Jalan and head of the UIDAI Nandan Nilekani were brought on board through lateral entry route.“Persons like Dr Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and others came into the system through lateral entry. There have been many other success stories also. Though there was no systemic approach, it was done on merit and the results were rewarding. However, there was a need to put the process on record. We thought there was a need to study it and evolve a system for lateral entry. That’s how the 2005 commission began,” said Moily.
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