Civil-services reform & administrative accountability
Civil-services reform in India: the doctrine of accountability, key committee blueprints, the All India Services framework, and the architecture of administrative answerability.
The constitutional anchor
The permanent civil service is the executive's instrument for implementing law and policy. India's framework rests on Part XIV of the Constitution (Articles 308–323). Article 309 empowers Parliament and State legislatures to regulate recruitment and conditions of service. Article 310 codifies the doctrine of pleasure: civil servants hold office during the pleasure of the President or Governor, subject to constitutional limits. Article 311 supplies the crucial procedural shield — no civil servant may be dismissed, removed or reduced in rank except after an inquiry in which charges are communicated and a reasonable opportunity of being heard is given. The three provisos to Article 311(2) permit dispensing with the inquiry on grounds of conviction, impracticability, or national security.
The All India Services
Article 312 authorises the Rajya Sabha, by a resolution supported by two-thirds of members present and voting (in the national interest), to create new All India Services. The All India Services Act, 1951 governs the IAS, IPS and (from 1966) the Indian Forest Service. The distinctive feature is dual control: officers are recruited centrally by the UPSC but allotted to State cadres, serving both Union and State governments. This design, championed by Sardar Vallabhbai Patel in the Constituent Assembly debates of 1949, was intended to be a unifying steel frame guaranteeing administrative integration and a measure of insulation from purely local pressures.
What 'reform' targets
Reform debate addresses recurring pathologies: politicisation of transfers and postings, opacity in promotions, weak performance differentiation, rule-bound risk-aversion, and a generalist–specialist imbalance. The landmark intervention was T.S.R. Subramaniam v. Union of India (2013), in which the Supreme Court directed that (a) States constitute Civil Services Boards to advise on transfers and postings, (b) civil servants be given a minimum assured tenure, and (c) officers act on written instructions, recording oral directions where necessary — an explicit attempt to curb arbitrary political interference.
The committee lineage
A candidate must retain the blueprint sequence. The Hota Committee (2004) recommended performance-based screening and the right to information. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2nd ARC, Veerappa Moily, 2005–09) produced fifteen reports; its tenth report, Refurbishing of Personnel Administration, urged a National Civil Services Authority, two intensive review points (at 14 and 20 years) to weed out non-performers, and domain competency. The Surinder Nath and Hota committees reshaped performance appraisal into the 360-degree and outcome-linked formats now used for empanelment. These reforms aim to convert a tenure-based bureaucracy into a performance-accountable one.