Sack bureaucrats found unfit after 20 yrs of service: ARC Panel

Sack babus if found unfit after 20 yrs of service: Panel
13 Dec 2008, 0257 hrs IST, PTI


NEW DELHI: In an attempt to make bureaucracy accountable, a radical system of assessment has been mooted by an official panel allowing government servants to be sacked after 20 years of service if they are found unfit to continue.

The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) headed by senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily recommended unprecedented and far-reaching changes in the service rules of government servants and suggested two intensive reviews to make civil servants accountable.

The report on ‘Refurbishing of Personnel Administration’ said the first review at 14 years would primarily serve the purpose of intimating to the public servant about his or her strengths and shortcomings, while the second review at 20 years would mainly serve to assess the fitness of the officer for further continuation in service.

“The services of public servants, who are found to be unfit after the second review at 20 years, should be discontinued. A provision regarding this should be made in the proposed Civil Services Law,” the second ARC said in its latest report released on Friday.

To ensure better accountability, the 377-page report said that for new appointments, it should be expressly provided that the period of employment shall be for 20 years. “Further continuance in government service would depend upon the outcome of the intensive performance reviews,” it said. “The ACR will not exist in its present form,” M Veerappa Moily, who heads the panel, told reporters at a press conference where he released the report.

The ARC report also said that performance appraisal should be year round and provisions for detailed work-plan and a mid-year review should be introduced for all services.

Noting that a good employee performance appraisal system was a pre-requisite for an effective performance management system, the Commission suggested making appraisal more consultative and transparent.

For motivating civil servants, the report said, there was a need to recognise their outstanding work.

Even 20 years is a long time....the issue that we need to address is should unfit, incompetant and corrupt buraucrafts be allowed to play unrestricted havoc with the citizens lives for 20 years?

And by the way who are the people writing the ACRs ? They too are human... they too have their likes and dislikes and above all are likely to be influenced. So how fair is this assessment going to be in anycase.

As they say one bad officer can dirty the entire pool !!

I guess should have early review just like auditing. Should be auditing of officers too and those who performed well must be rewarded and lazy as well as inefficient should be sacked. And if one is found not good for 5 years in total then should be dethroned .

No amount of rules can do any good, because the Indian government and the system that
puts the government in power every five years, do not enforce complaince of the
very rules it formlates...and the members of the elite, politicians and ministers and their
families are the first to break the rules with impunity and immunity from law.

That is the fact of life. Rules are there..but sledom enforced for the criminals
because of their high connections. PERIOD.