M.P. Nathanael | The Ugly Truths That Lie Behind the Mad Rush for Government Jobs Across India

A video showing the distraught parents of a civil service aspirant in tears and seething with anger at their daughter being denied entry into a college to appear in the Civil Services Preliminary Examination on June 16 last year went viral, drawing the sympathy of viewers. She was a little late.

Though the aspirant tried consoling her parents that she could appear later, they were agitated that she would lose one year.

In 2018, over 47.6 lakh candidates applied for 26,502 posts of loco pilots and technicians in the Railways. Nearly two crore aspirants, including post-graduates and doctorate degree holders, applied for just 62,907 posts of assistants and helpers.

An advertisement of the Uttar Pradesh police recruitment and promotion board for the post of constables in December 2023 drew as many as 48,17,441 applications for just 60,224 posts, the results of which were declared recently.

Dwelling on the need to observe “absolute scrupulousness” in government recruitments, a bench led by Justice Sanjay Karol recently stated: “In India, the reality is that there are far more takers of government jobs than there are jobs available”. Hence, he added, the entry process should be done in an impeccable manner.

Most parents aspire for their children to enter government service for the sake of the handsome salary coupled with other perks like medical cover, travel benefits, various allowances, and most of all for the job security it provides. Small wonder that lakhs of youth appear in examinations conducted by the Central and state governments year after year.

No sooner that a person lands a government job, hordes of prospective brides and bridegrooms begin to swarm around their families. In jobs involving public dealings, the ill-gotten income as bribe adds to the value of the employee. Ironically, while bribery is frowned upon by society at large and corruption becomes a central plank of political campaigns, it is viewed as an asset within families.

Coming late to the office and leaving early is the norm in most government offices. It is their supervisory officers who are to blame as they either do not follow the office timings themselves or are not courageous enough to pull up their subordinates.

Speaking at the judicial academy in Kolkata on June 29, 2024, Justice B.R. Gavai said: “Some of the judges in some high courts do not sit on time. It is shocking to know that some of the judges, though the court timings are from 10.30 am, sit at 11.30 am and get up at 12.30 pm, though court timings are up to 1.30 pm (in the first half). It is more shocking to know that some judges do not sit in the second half,” he said.

The Department of Personnel and Training has directed all ministries and departments to ensure that all employees mark their attendance using the Aadhaar-Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) without fail. Its memorandum of June 15, 2024 states: “It has been observed that despite clear instructions, several employees are not registering their attendance in Biometric Attendance System (BAS) and some of the employees have been coming late on a regular basis.” Strict action must be taken against those who habitually come late and leave office early and that “half-a-day’s casual leave should be debited for each day of late attendance…,” it ordered, apart from disciplinary action under the CCS (Conduct) Rules.

While in the defence services and paramilitary forces, acts of misdemeanour are met with penal action by summary trials like orderly rooms and award of minor punishments, more serious offences are dealt through court martials in the military and similar provisions, like judicial trials and departmental enquiries, in the paramilitary forces.

In-service courses in these forces equip officers with the legal knowledge and expertise to handle disciplinary matters and inflict punishments to recalcitrant officials. By virtue of their experience in conducting departmental enquiries, they are better placed to conduct trials and enquiries. But in other departments, the proclivity to overlook cases of indiscipline stems from the fact that the disciplinary authorities themselves are not well conversant with the procedures and rules. The non-availability of inquiry officers poses serious problems. The DoPT has directed all ministries to include retired officers in their panel of inquiry officers to conduct departmental enquiries to ensure enquiries are completed in the shortest time. This directive has yielded desired results.

With the government’s policy of ensuring that bureaucrats perform and maintain a high degree of probity or perish, the bureaucracy must excel. The message goes down the line that every employee must perform or face dire consequences. Under the provision of administrative review, which is done when an employee attains the age of 50 years or puts in 25 years of service, whichever is earlier, an employee can be compulsorily retired depending on his career profile.

In February 2021, the minister of State of Personnel Jitendra Singh stated in the Rajya Sabha that 340 officers were compulsorily retired between 2014 and 2020. The Employees Provident Fund Organisation compulsorily retired 12 officers last year and 18 others were suspended on corruption charges.

Under Article 311 of the Constitution, the government is at liberty to dismiss, remove or reduce to lower rank any employee with or without a formal departmental enquiry under the doctrine of pleasure of the President of India.

The government’s rules and procedures are quite robust and reasonable. A high standard of discipline and top efficiency in the functioning of the government can be ensured by effective implementation of these rules. Senior officers need to be role models for others.

Job security is assured to all employees who are punctual, hardworking, efficient and models of rectitude, but recalcitrant employees must be strictly dealt with and weeded out if needed.

The writer is a retired CRPF IGP who has served in the Northeast for over a decade