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Lateral entry for government posts | Explained
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A recent advertisement to recruit 45 members laterally to posts under the aegis of the Union Service Public Commission has sparked controversy
File photo dated 15 Mar, 2022 of the New Delhi office of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) that conducts the IAS exam every year for the Civil Services of India. Image used for representation only.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
The story so far: The Union Service Public Commission (UPSC) on Saturday issued an advertisement to recruit for multiple roles in certain Central Ministries through lateral entry, either on contract basis or through deputation. The advertisement is for 45 posts across 24 ministries, including 10 joint secretary and 35 director/deputy secretary posts. These posts need to filled by September 17.
The recruitment call triggered a chorus of protests from the Opposition, which alleged that the Centre was trying to circumvent existing reservation policies.
UPSC seeks candidates for 45 lateral entry posts in Ministries; Opposition cries foul
The present advertisment
The advertisment seeks experts to fill joint secretary, director and deputy secretary posts in several departments/ministries.
Of these, the joint secretary positions are in fields including emerging technologies, semi-conductors and electronics, environment policy and law, digital economy, fintech, cybersecurity, investment in economic affairs, shipping, science and technology, economic/commercial/industrial posts under the Steel Ministry, renewable energy, policy and plan, and the National Disaster Management Authority.
Centre asks UPSC to cancel latest advertisement for lateral entry in bureaucracy
Vacancies for directors and deputy secretaries are present in departments related to climate change, forestry, integrated nutrients management, natural farming, rain-fed farming system, organic farming, urban water management, aviation management, chemicals and petrochemicals, commodity pricing, insolvency and bankruptcy, education laws, education technology, international law, finance, tax policy, manufacturing/auto, advanced chemical cell battery manufacturing for automobile sector, and official languages. One position pertains to digital media, and is in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
The application is open to “talented and motivated Indian nationals willing to contribute towards nation- building,” in addition to to State/UT officers and employees from public sector undertakings. For applicants from the private sector, appointments would be made on a contract basis, while applicants from the public sector would be posted on deputation. Notably, directly recruited Central government employees are not eligible for the advertised posts.
The term of appointment for these posts is three years, which can be extended to five years based on performance.
The post of joint secretary requires 15 years of experience in a relevant domain, and candidates must be between 40 and 55 years of age. For director posts, the age requirement is 35 to 40, while for deputy secretary posts it is 32 to 40.
What is lateral entry?
In a lateral entry to the civil services, persons are recruited from outside the usual bureaucratic setup for certain posts in government departments. In India, this may include mid or senior-level positions in services such as the Indian Administrative Service. The usual practice is for these posts to be filled by civil servants, who enter the services through examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.
Lateral entry envisages the inclusion of domain experts or those with experience in policy-making and implementation from outside the civil services. Private sector employees have often been tapped for advisory roles, but this model sees their entry into the administrative service hierarchy. An example of such roles is that of the Chief Economic Advisor of India, usually a prominent economist who must met the prescribed upper age limit of 45, as a government source highlighted.
In India, lateral entry into certain posts in the Central government was implemented by the Modi government in 2018. The concept, however, was reportedly spearheaded by the Congress-led UPA government, and recommended by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission formed in 2005 under the charimanship of former Union Law Minister and Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily.
In a telephonic interview with The Hindu, Mr. Moily acknowledged that the Commission did recommend such entry for specialised roles not easily available within traditional civil services. “It [lateral entry] was meant to be a value addition to the government’s appointment process. We had suggested a very transparent process for lateral induction,” he said, adding that the suggestion was “not meant to bypass the usual government recruitment process or for any political reason.”
Lateral entry into bureaucracy started during previous Congress-led rule: Centre
Per a reply in the Lok Sabha tabled on July 24, 63 appointments have been made through lateral entry till date. Of these 35 were from the private sector. 57 of those hired through lateral entry have remained with their appointed Ministry or department.
The concept of lateral entry is also reportedly in keeping with the recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) and NITI Aayog in 2017, which stipulated that around 40 individuals could be recruited through lateral entry to fill up government vacancies. Further, in 2019, sources in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had indicated that the government was working on a plan to recruit individuals for the post of director/deputy secretary under the Central Staffing Scheme, which works to select/appoint officers of the rank of under secretary and above.
Similar notifications have been issued by the Union Public Services Commission since 2018. For example, a notification was issued last July— again for the posts of joint secretary, deputy secretary and directors in various departments/ministries.
Lateral entry in other countries
Notably, other countries have regularised lateral entry into administrative posts— including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Belgium.
Across the world, the phenomenon of government officials transitioning to lobbyists and corporate entities and vice versa has often been christened as a “revolving door” model in governance. In such a system, there is a flow between government posts and decision-making roles in corporations or industries.
Such posts include legislative posts— such as members of Congress in the United States— as well as civil servants and members of the executuve appointed by successive political administrations. In the U.S, there is usually a “cooling off” period before the government official can engage in lobbying, with laws differing by State.
The revolving-door system has come under fire for undermining public interest, particularly in industries such as Big Pharma, the energy and fossil fuel sector and defence. A paper notes that public actors involved may “regulate in favor of the corporations either to secure a post-government position in the private sector or, when moving from private to public office, because they have been socialized in the industry setting.”
Further, questions arise over conflicts of interest and influence. The frequent movement of individuals with specialised domain knowledge— such as in cybersecurity or antitrust— may also affect the working of congressional committees and offices.
Concerns over revolving doors operating between governments and the energy and fossil fuel industry in particular have emerged in several countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Norway.
Why has it sparked controversy in India
Lateral entry has invited criticism and controversy since its inception in India. In 2019, Dalit and other civil servantsobjected to the scheme saying that candidates hired by lateral entry were not subject to reservation requirements.
“We didn’t deal with the reservation aspect at all,” Mr. Moily said, referring to the 2005 Commission chaired by him.
‘UPSC lateral entry recruitment, a violation of Constitutional rights’
The rules of the DoPT state that government appointments could be exempt from the reservation policy only if they are temporary roles for a period less than 45 days. Lateral entry, however, has been considered a private contract between the individual and the government, thus eschewing a requirement to comply with the usual policy ascribed to government services.
The latest advertisment invited the ire of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as well as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. In a post on X, Mr. Kharge accused the BJP of launching a “double attack on reservation” and questioned whether there was any reservation for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) or the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in these lateral entry posts.
He wrote, “As part of a well-planned conspiracy, the BJP is deliberately making such recruitments in jobs so that SC, ST, OBC categories can be kept away from reservation.” He alleged that casual and contractual recruitment had increased by 91% and posts for SC and OBC communities had decreased by 1.3 lakh by 2022-23. “The SC, ST, OBC, EWS posts will now be given to people of the RSS,” he said.
Mr. Gandhi, meanwhile, accused the government of “openly snatching away” posts from those belonging to SC, ST and OBC communities. “Lateral entry is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis. BJP’s distorted version of Ram Rajya seeks to destroy the Constitution and snatch reservations from Bahujans,” he wrote in a post on X.
Opposition members also highlighted another recent reservation-related issue— an alleged scam in the recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers in Uttar Pradesh, about which the High Court recently gave a decision.
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