Amid backlash from NDA allies and the Opposition, the Government on Tuesday asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPCS) to cancel the advertisement for lateral entry of outsider specialists as officers in the government.
In a letter to Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Chairperson, Preeti Sudan, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh emphasised that the constitutional mandate towards social justice has to be upheld so that deserving candidates from marginalised communities get their rightful representation in the government services. The UPSC has already taken back the advertisement.
“Since these positions have been treated as specialised and designated as single cadre posts, there has been no provision for reservation in these appointments. These aspects need to be reviewed and reformed in the context of the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s focus on ensuring social justice. Hence, I urge the UPSC to cancel the advertisement for lateral entry recruitment,” he said.
Further, the PM is of the firm belief that the process of lateral entry must be aligned with the principles of equity and social justice enshrined in the Constitution, particularly concerning the provisions of reservation, Singh said.
Policy Review
The government decided to review the policy to address “social justice” concerns of NDA allies and the Opposition which have dubbed the initiative as anti-reservation since the advertisement for 45 posts does not have a quota for Schedule Caste (SC), Schedule Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Caste (OBC). NDA allies, Janata Dal (United) and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) had openly voiced their concerns about lateral entry besides the Congress-led opposition.
Jitendra Singh maintained that there have been many high-profile cases of lateral entrants in the government. Under earlier governments, posts as important as that of secretary in various ministries, leadership of UIDAI, etc., have been given to lateral entrants without following any process of reservations, Singh said. “Further, it is well known that the members of the infamous National Advisory Council used to run a super-bureaucracy that controlled the Prime Minister’s Office,” he said.
This was the fourth attempt of the NDA government to induct domain experts into the government. As of now, there are 57 lateral entry experts working in different ministries including in finance.
So far 63 appointments have been made through lateral entry at the level of Joint Secretary, Director and Deputy Secretary during the last 5 years. Presently 57 officers are in positions in Ministries/Departments. Lateral Recruitment is undertaken by UPSC for each post to be filled under Lateral Entry.