Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation
News: UPSC advertises lateral entry posts in Ministries; Opposition cries foul
The reservation of SC, ST, and OBC categories does not apply to the appointment of lateral entry appointments for ministries. Analyze the ‘no quota’ the ‘13-point roster’ and concerns arising out of adding reservations in this regard.
Recently, The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has issued an advertisement seeking applications for “talented and motivated Indian nationals for Lateral Recruitment” to the posts of Joint Secretary, Director, and Deputy Secretary in 24 ministries of the Union government.
About Lateral Entry in bureaucracy:
- In 2017, NITI Aayog, in its three-year Action Agenda, and the Sectoral Group of Secretaries (SGoS) on Governance in its report, recommended the induction of personnel at middle and senior management levels in the central government.
- These ‘lateral entrants’ would be part of the central secretariat which, till then, had only career bureaucrats from the All India Services/ Central Civil Services. They would be given contracts of three years, extendable to a total term of five years.
Designations open for lateral entry:
- Based on the above recommendation, the first vacancies for lateral entrants were advertised in 2018, but only for Joint Secretary level positions. Posts of the rank of Director and Deputy Secretary were opened later.
- A Joint Secretary, appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), has the third-highest rank (after Secretary and Additional Secretary) in a Department, and functions as the administrative head of a wing in the Department.
- Directors are one rank below Joint Secretaries, and Deputy Secretaries are one rank below Directors, although in most ministries, they perform the same job.
The rationale of the Union administration for allowing lateral entry
- Government logic on lateral entry clarified like the “lateral recruitment is aimed at achieving the twin objectives of bringing in fresh talent as well as augment the availability of manpower”.
- Keeping in view their specialized knowledge and expertise in the domain area, lateral recruitment at the level of Joint Secretary, Director and Deputy Secretary in Government of India, has been undertaken to appoint persons for specific assignments.
Why are there no quotas in lateral recruitment?
- In a May 15, 2018 circular, the DoPT noted that “in respect of appointments to Central Government posts and services there shall be reservation for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe/Other Backward Class candidates in temporary appointments which are to last for 45 days or more”.
- This was a reiteration — with OBCs added — of a circular issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs as far back as September 24, 1968. In effect, reservations have to be offered for any appointment in the bureaucracy.
About ‘13-point roster’:
- Lateral entries have been criticised on the grounds that there are no quotas for SC, ST and OBC candidates in such recruitment.
- Reservation in public jobs and universities is implemented via what is known as the “13-point roster”.
- According to this policy, a candidate’s position on a roster of openings is determined by dividing the quota percentage of their group (SC, ST, OBC, and now EWS) by a hundred.
- For example, the OBC quota is 27%. Therefore, OBC candidates are recruited to every 4th post for which a vacancy arises in a department/cadre (100/27=3.7).
- Likewise, SC candidates, with 15% reservation, are supposed to fill every 7th vacancy (100/15=6.66), ST candidates, with 7.5% reservation, are supposed to fill every 14th vacancy (100/7.5=13.33), and EWS candidates, with 10% reservation, are supposed to fill every 10th vacancy (100/10=10).
Challenges in applying reservations:
- In a single post cadre, reservation does not apply. Since each post to be filled under this scheme [lateral entry] is a Single Post, reservation is not applicable.
- In the current round of recruitment, the UPSC has advertised 45 openings. If these were to be considered as a single group, according to the 13-point roster, six vacancies would be reserved for SC candidates, three for ST candidates, 12 for OBC candidates, and four for the EWS category.
- But since these vacancies have been advertised separately for each department, all of them are effectively single-post vacancies, and hence bypass the policy of reservations.
Reference: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/upsc-lateral-entry-bureaucracy-reservations-9520211/