The Central Civil Services (CCS) encompass the various Civil Services of India that are exclusively under the jurisdiction of the federal Government of India. This is in contrast to the All India Services, which are common to both the central and state governments, or the state civil services, which fall under the purview of individual states.

The Cadre Controlling Authority for each established Service is controlled by the respective Union government ministries of India. The higher-level positions in Central Civil Services are classified into Group A and Group B, both of which are gazetted.

History

British India

Main articles: Royal Commission on the Public Services in India and Imperial Secretariat Service

With the passing of the Government of India Act 1919, the Imperial Services headed by the Secretary of State for India, were split into two – All India Services and Central Services.[1]

The All India and Central Services (Group A) were designated as Central Superior Services as early as 1924.[2] From 1924 to 1934, Administration in India consisted of 10 All India Services (including Indian Education Service, Indian Medical Service) and 5 central departments, all under the control of Secretary of State for India, and 3 central departments under joint Provincial and Imperial Control.[2]

The Central Services was headed by the Viceroy and Governor-General of India.

Modern India

The Group A officers are appointed by the President of India and appointments to Group B are made by the authorities specified by a general or special order of the President.

Nature, rules and deputations

Rules and regulations

The Central Civil Services (CCS) is run as per Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rule and all service members work under restrictions and rules of Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules. The Indian Railway Services work under Railway Services (Conduct) Rules of 1966.

The Central Civil Services also follows CCS (Commutation of Pension) Rules and has its own Recognition of Service Associations Rules 1993 and Leave Travel Concession Rules 1988.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), in a circular released in October 2018, directed central universities to adopt the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules 1964 for professors of the university.

Deputations

The members of Central Civil Services are eligible for deputation to state governments either on personal grounds or official approval from both Government of India Staffing Scheme of Government of India.

Performance review and dismissal

The employees performance review is conducted under the Fundamental Rule (FR) 56 (J) and 56 (I), and also under Rule 48 (1) (b) of the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972, that gives "absolute right" to the appropriate authority to retire a government servant, "if it is necessary to do so in public interest".[3]

A government servant can be retired "in public interest" under Central Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1965, as a penalty for possession of assets disproportionate to known source of income or for accepting gratification as a reward for doing or forbearing to do an official act.[4]

Recruitment

The recruitment of the CCS (Group A) is made through Civil Services Examination, Engineering Services Examination, Combined Geo-Scientist and Geologist Examination, I.E.S./I.S.S. Examination, Combined Medical Services Examination, Central Armed Police Forces of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). All promotions or empanelment in the CCS are either by Civil Services Board or by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Central Government Services (Group A)

The Central Services (Group A) are concerned with the administration of the Union Government.[5] All appointments to Central Civil Services (Group A) are made by the President of India.

In 2019, based on the Bibek Debroy committee report of 2015, the Cabinet of India approved the plan to merge eight railway services. In 2022, the government released a gazette notification about the merger of existing eight services, which fall under the Central Civil Services, into a new Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS). The eight services includes Indian Railway Accounts Service, Indian Railway Personnel Service, Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers, Indian Railway Stores Service, and Indian Railway Traffic Service.[9]

Central Government Services (Group B)

For Group B civil service posts only, the Combined Graduate Level Examination (CGLE) is conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC).[a][10] All appointments to Group B are made by the authorities specified by a general or special order of the President. [b][10]

Reforms and Challenges

Lateral entry

There was lateral entry in Government of India during 1970s and 1980s, where Manmohan Singh (1971–1972) and Montek Singh Ahluwalia (1979), both served as Economic Advisers[c] in the rank of Joint secretary to the Government of India at Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance. M. S. Swaminathan was appointed as Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in Government of India (1979-80).

In 2009, 20th Governor of Reserve Bank of India Bimal Jalan had voiced for posts at the level of joint secretary to be opened up to outside competition.[11]

In June 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced opening up 10 posts of joint secretary (GOI) rank/post in several departments to experts in several fields through lateral entry. In 2019, Government of India short listed 89 candidates from 6000+ candidates,[12] with an initial shortlist success rate of 1.4%. In 2021, Government of India announced opening up 3 posts of joint secretary (GOI) rank/post in several departments.[13]

Foreign service and policy

In 2017, then Chairman of Committee on External Affairs Shashi Tharoor presented the 12th report in 16th Lok Sabha on the subject 'Recruitment, structure and capacity-building of Indian Foreign Service Cadre, including need for a separate UPSC examination for cadre, mid-career entry and in-service training and orientation.'[14][15][16] India has one of the most understaffed diplomatic forces of any major country in the world.[17][18][19][20]

Indian Railways

In 2019, based on the Bibek Debroy committee report of 2015, the Cabinet of India approved the plan to merge eight railway services. In 2022, the government released a gazette notification about the merger of existing eight services, which fall under the Central Civil Services, into a new Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS). The eight services includes Indian Railway Accounts Service, Indian Railway Personnel Service, Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers, Indian Railway Stores Service, and Indian Railway Traffic Service.[21]

Corruption, dismissal and premature retirement

In 2016, the Ministry of Finance for the first time, dismissed 72 and prematurely retired another 33 Indian Revenue Service officers for non-performance and on disciplinary grounds.[22][23][24][25][26] In 2019, Government of India dismissed 12 (IRS IT) and 15 (IRS Customs and Central Excise) officers for corruption and bribery charges.[27][28] In 2019, Department of Personnel and Training in Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions listed 284 Central Secretariat Service officers for performance audit by review panel headed by Cabinet Secretary of India.[29]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Schedule of Central Civil Services for Group 'B'. The complete list as per Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Govt. of India
  2. ^ The Schedule of Central Civil Services for Group 'B'. The complete list as per Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Govt. of India
  3. ^ The post and rank of Economic Advisor is only present in Indian Economic Service cadre.

References

  1. ^ Goel, S.L. (2008). Public Personnel Administration : Theory and Practice. Deep and Deep Publications, 2008. ISBN 9788176293952.
  2. ^ a b Maheshwari, Shriram (1992). Problems and Issues in Administrative Federalism. Allied Publishers. ISBN 9788170233428.
  3. ^ "Centre to weed out inefficient, corrupt employees, asks depts to review service records of staff". The Economic Times. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Odisha asks Centre to compulsory retire Indian Forest Service officer for graft". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-03-04. Retrieved 2017-05-04.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "Cabinet approves enterprise development cadre". Business Standard India. 21 December 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  7. ^ "Government nod to raise new Group-A civil service cadre". Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  8. ^ "Govt approves formation of Indian Skill Development Service". The Economic Times. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  9. ^ Thakur, Rajesh Kumar (13 February 2022). "Indian Railway merges eight service cadres into one newly created cadre". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  10. ^ a b Complete Civil Service Schedule of the Central Civil Services Group B of India." Central Civil Service Group B - Government of India, 20 April 2020.
  11. ^ "Bring in experts. Snip away red tape". Hindustan Times. 29 July 2009. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  12. ^ "JS-level recruitment from pvt sector: Only 89 of over 6,000 candidates short-listed". Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  13. ^ "Not much enthusiasm for Modi govt's latest IAS lateral entry push, just about 1,200 apply". Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Twelfth Report, Standing Committee on External Affairs: Indian Foreign Service cadre" (PDF). Lok Sabha. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  15. ^ "If Shashi Tharoor's panel has its way, India's diplomatic corps could grow in quantity and quality". Firstpost. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  16. ^ Chaudhury, Dipanjan Roy. "Fill in IFS cadre gap, Parliament committee to Government". The Economic Times. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  17. ^ "India must rethink strategies on national security if it wants to join ranks with US, China". The Print. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  18. ^ "With just 1,400 diplomats, India's foreign influence is severely limited". The Print. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  19. ^ "India has global ambitions but not enough IFS officers to fulfil them". The Print. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  20. ^ "Indian Foreign Service in desperate need of reform, particularly when it is losing relevance". Firstpost. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  21. ^ Thakur, Rajesh Kumar (13 February 2022). "Indian Railway merges eight service cadres into one newly created cadre". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  22. ^ "For good governance, Finance Ministry fires 72 tax officers, retires 33 more". Business Standard. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  23. ^ "Government takes strict action against defaulting/non performing tax officials/officers". Press Information Bureau. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  24. ^ "Absent for years, government sacks 11 IRS officers". The Indian Express. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  25. ^ "108 IRS officers under CBI probe for alleged corruption: Government". The Economic Times. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  26. ^ "CBI seizes 2 crore in old currency from city residence of IRS officer". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  27. ^ "Govt sacks 12 senior I-T officers including a senior officer for corruption". Business Standard. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  28. ^ "Govt Sacks 15 Senior Customs, Central Excise Officers Over Corruption, Bribery Charges". Outlook. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  29. ^ "Modi govt to retire Central Secretariat Service officers now, 284 of them under scanner". The Print. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.

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