The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had cancelled its advertisement for ‘lateral entry’ recruitment in the bureaucracy three days ago on the request of the Centre. Amidst the opposition to ‘lateral entry’ recruitment by the Congress and other opposition parties, one fact has gone unnoticed, that is the proposal brought by the Manmohan Singh government on lateral entry.
In fact, acting on the recommendation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC), Manmohan Singh’s Prime Minister’s Office had in January 2011 proposed filling 10% of the posts at the joint secretary level through lateral entry.
Manmohan Singh was also a supporter!
This means that the then Manmohan government itself believed that through this lateral recruitment, the required appointments could be made in a short time. According to the Indian Express report, records show that in a note from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in this regard, it was said that the lateral entrants would be selected “on the basis of their bio-data and interview/limited competitive examination by the UPSC.”
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The Sixth Pay Commission had recommended identifying certain posts requiring technical or specialised knowledge which are not in any government service. It was recommended that the posts should be filled by suitable candidates on contract.
Nearly two years later, in June 2013, records show that the Department of Expenditure of the DoPT and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examined the pay commission’s recommendation. The UPSC agreed to “make selections in accordance with its mandate”.
Ministries gave a cold response
DoPT records stated that the selection methodology “will be formulated only after the complete proposal is available.” Subsequently, a concept note on the lateral entry proposal was circulated and various ministries and departments were asked to identify positions requiring specialised knowledge.
The 2013 concept note was circulated again in June 2014, but according to official records, there were “very few” responses and the proposal could not move forward. Then in 2017, the same lateral entry issue came into the limelight again.
Discussion took place again in 2018
Official records show that the lateral entry scheme was discussed in a PMO meeting on April 28, 2017. The initial decision was to keep it outside the purview of the UPSC and conduct a lateral recruitment process. A selection committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary was tasked with finalising the advertisement and recommending candidates to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
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The selection committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary was to select joint secretaries for lateral entry. It was said that the panel of deputy secretaries/directors would be headed by the most senior officer among the three secretaries in charge of Home, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and Finance.
Modi government took this decision in 2018
However, on May 11, 2018, a DoPT official said that if these posts are to be filled in this manner, the UPSC (Exemption from Consultation) Regulations would have to be amended, i.e. the rules would have to be changed. Later, within a year, a reconsideration was done and the government decided to leave the lateral entry recruitment to the UPSC.
On November 1, 2018, the UPSC said it would recommend one candidate at a time and keep two other names in the reserve list for each post. It further clarified: “This process of selection is being treated as a one-time affair and not a regular process to be continued every year.”
When did the concept of lateral entry come
The Congress-led UPA government was the first to come up with the lateral entry concept. In 2005, the second Administrative Reforms Commission was constituted and senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily was the chairman of the commission. In the report titled ‘Renovation of Personnel Administration – Touching New Heights’, one of the major recommendations of the commission was to introduce lateral entry to higher government posts that require special knowledge and skills.
