Você está na página 1de 24

Ethical Issues

In
Indian Civil
Services
[Type text] Page 1
Ethics Assignment

Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University

EHTICAL ISSUES IN INDIAN CIVIL SERVICES


An assignment submitted in the Partial fulfillment of the Requirement for the

Award of the degree of

“Master of Human Resource and


Organisation Development”

By
Rohit Kumar Singh

Shivika Tandon

Shweta Jatwani

Shruti Sayana

Mohit Yadav

Rahul Kumar

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 2


Ethics Assignment

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, DELHI SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, DELHI


UNIVERSITY

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that assignment entitled ‘EHTICAL ISSUES IN INDIAN CIVIL


SERVICES’ presented by Rohit Kumar Singh, Shivika Tandon, Shweta Jatwani, Shruti
Sayana, Mohit Yadav, Rahul Kumar students of first year MHROD, is the bona-fide
presentation of their work done by them under my supervision and guidance. They have
submitted this project report towards partial fulfillment for the award of degree of MHROD
of the Delhi University during the academic year 2009-2011. It is further certified that this
work has not been submitted elsewhere for the award of any other degree or diploma.

Faculty

……………….

Dr. Gauri Shankar

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 3


Ethics Assignment

CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION

We hereby declare that the work, which is being presented in this assignment titled
“EHTICAL ISSUES IN TOURISM INDUSTRY” in partial fulfilment of requirement for
award of the degree of MHROD in Department of Commerce, Delhi University .This is an
authentic record of our work carried out under the able supervision of Dr. Gauri Shankar. We
have not submitted the matter embodied in this project for award of any other degree or
diploma anywhere else.

Date Rohit Kumar Singh

10/10/2009 Shivika Tandon

Shweta Jatwani

Shruti Sayana

Mohit Yadav

Rahul Kumar

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 4


Ethics Assignment

Acknowledgement

We deem it our privilege to extend the gratitude and appreciation towards all those
who have been directly or indirectly involved themselves in making this assignment.

We wish to express our gratitude to our honourable Faculty Dr. Gauri Shankar for his
prompt and sincere guidance. He stood by us all the way and provided us additional insight
and ideas with painstaking attention to details. His comments and criticism have been
valuable.

Rohit Kumar Singh

Shivika Tandon

Shweta Jatwani

Shruti Sayana

Mohit Yadav

Rahul Kumar

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 5


Ethics Assignment

PREFACE
Civil service refers to the body of government officials who are employed in civil
occupations that are neither political nor judicial. The concept of civil service was prevalent
in India from ancient times. The Mauryan administration employed civil servants in the name
of adhyakshas and rajukas. The examination for civil servants in those days too was very
stringent as quoted by Kautilya’s Arthasastra. The expanse of the territory and the need to
hold it intact made it imperative for the Mauryan administration to recruit civil servants based
on merit. The concept of civil service again came into prominence when British in search of
creating a framework to hold the territories of India, created the much coveted ‘Indian Civil
Services’ or the ICS.
Many changes took place in Indian Civil services since Lord Cornwallis
introduced it in India. The Indian Civil services were created to foster the idea of unity in
diversity . The civil service was expected to give continuity and change to the administration
no matter the political scenario and turmoil affecting the country. Indian civil service has also
played the part of giving this continuous support to the nation. But what is appalling and
needs a serious consideration is the element of ‘change’ and ‘ethical values’. It can be said
that the civil service as a whole has maintained its status quo instead of sweeping changes in
social and economic scenario. Some may argue that it is the resilience of the civil service, but
it is an obvious fact out in the street that the Indian civil service was not able to deliver
service based upon the expectations of the people or the founding fathers of the Constitution.
The present paper deals about the ethical problems affecting Indian civil service
and the reform that is needed to make it vibrant and deliver according to the expectations.
The civil service is an integral part of administration and the structures of administration to
determine the way the civil service functions.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 6


Ethics Assignment

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. BACKDROP OF INDIAN ADMINISTRATION...................................................................... 8
2. GOVERNANCE AND NEED FOR CIVIL SERVICES ........................................................ 10
3. ETHICS IN PUBLIC LIFE AND CIVIL SERVICES ............................................................ 11
4. ETHICAL ISSUES IN INDIAN CIVIL SERVICES .............................................................. 13
4.1. ASYMMETRIC DISTRIBUTION AND ABUSE OF POWER.............................................................. 13
4.2. LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY .................................................................................................... 14
4.3. POLITICAL INTERFERENCE AND CRONICYSM .......................................................................... 14
4.4. LACK OF INTEGRITY ............................................................................................................... 15
4.5. LACK OF ACTION AGAINST CORRUPT OFFICIALS ..................................................................... 15
4.6. LACK OF PROPER PROTECTION TO WHISTLEBLOWERS ............................................................ 15
4.7. LACK OF PROPER CODE OF CONDUCT FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS................................................ 16
4.8. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY AND SENSITIVITY TOWARDS COMMON MAN ................................... 16
5. MEASURES FOR BETTER ETHICAL CONDUCT OF CIVIL SERVANTS ................... 18
5.1. MEASURES AGAINST CORRUPTION.......................................................................................... 18
5.2. FIXING OF ACCOUNTABILITY .................................................................................................. 18
5.3. TRANSPARENCY ..................................................................................................................... 19
5.4. REDUCING DISCRETION .......................................................................................................... 19
5.5. ENSURING ACCESSIBILITY AND RESPONSIVENESS ................................................................... 20
5.6. CODE OF ETHICS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS................................................................................... 20
5.7. LAW FOR PROTECTION OF WHISTLEBLOWERS ......................................................................... 20
5.8. INSULATING CIVIL SERVANTS FROM UNDUE POLITICAL INTERFERENCE .................................. 21
5.9. PROMOTING COMPETITION ..................................................................................................... 21
6. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.......................................................................................... 22
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................... 24

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 7


Ethics Assignment

1. Backdrop of Indian Administration

Indian administration today is a product of history, in fact, an amazing continuity of


history. It has the heritage of Kautilya, Ashoka, Akbar, Shershah Suri and British
colonial administration; the last being the latest has made the deepest impact on Indian
administration. It is on this model that the administrative system of India has been built;
basically a model of force and extraction of surplus. The other models also continue to
haunt the Indian administration till date. The Kautilyan model was based on certain
premises, which were rooted in inequalities and tended towards unequal or graded
treatment of human beings. This is seen in caste hierarchy and religious legitimacy. But,
besides engaging in the extraction of surplus, and maintenance of law and order, the
Kautilyan model did talk of taking up some public works. Indeed kautiya exhorts the
king to pay attention to the welfare of his subjects. Kautilya can be regarded as one who
presented a model, which is extractive, but still combined with with a dose of welfare.

Ashoka’s paternalistic attitude is expressed in the remark, “All men are my


children”. He desired the welfare of his subjects in the same way as he would of his own
children and rightly regarded their welfare as his responsibility. He was always in
personal contact with his subjects to secure greater welfare for them, this in part, accounts
for his undertaking of extensive tours throughout his empire. His edicts depict that new
developments in administration for the wellbeing of the people were undertaken. He
abolished discrimination of caste and position in ordering punishment. Ashoka’s
administration, ingrained in ‘Dharma’, could be regarded as a programme of social
welfare, which in 20th century parlance is known as ‘welfare administration’.

During medieval period the feudal administration of Mughals and Shershah Suri
were meant for extracting revenues for plunder and pleasure. A close examination of their
working would reveal that the entire setup was meant to protect the interests of emperor
rather than the good of masses. The reforms introduced during this period were mainly
for plugging gaps and leakages and improving the system efficiency for revenue
collection.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 8


Ethics Assignment

The colonial power, which entered India in search of business and profit did not
destroy the basic structure but improvised it to suit their own purpose. Colonialism,
because of its mission, deepened and sharpened the coercive apparatus of the state in the
process of extraction of the surplus, gradually destroying the productive processes. To
legitimise their roots, the colonial masters introduced educational and legal system, which
oriented to produce clerks and lawyers for administration to keep the administrative and
judicial system going. It created a class of people who were ‘black in colour but European
in thought’. All attempts of reforms were aimed at perpetuating the existing system,
rather than altering it in anyway. However, they created a new set of officers who not
only wielded power and worked as a source of power, but were also agents of the
supposedly welfare regime.

The arbitrary and undemocratic state power exercised through bureaucratic


apparatus coupled with enormous economic backwardness on one hand and growing
consciousness of the people on the other gave rise to the anti-colonial freedom movement.
But the freedom movement did not throw up any viable alternative form of organisation,
thus, the entire freedom movement got reduced to mere transfer of power. Once power
was transferred, the lack of clarity about the administrative institution became our legacy.
Thus, the bureaucratic setup against which people fought during freedom movement
remained intact and was adopted as such, and is still continuing today.

The civil services setup designed by British to rule our country has been
tweaked time and again through various administrative reforms commissions to suit our
requirements, but still it is beset with many problems.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 9


Ethics Assignment

2. Governance and Need for Civil services

Governance is the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage


a country’s affairs at all level. It consists of the mechanisms, processes and institutions
through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights,
meet their obligations and mediate their differences. Without good governance, no
amount of developmental schemes can bring in improvements in the quality of life of the
citizens. On the contrary, if the power of the state is abused, or exercised in weak or
improper ways, those with the least power in the society- the poor are most likely to
suffer. In that sense, poor governance generates and reinforces poverty and subverts all
efforts to reduce it. The civil service form an important part of the institution of the state
and play a crucial role in the administration of the country. It has to carry out task in
terms of the constitutional mandate and the legal framework. A stable body of
experienced and competent permanent in diverse fields, it constitutes an elite corps, with
the vast authority vested in it, to be exercised in public interest for achieving public policy
objectives.

Thus there is a need for an effective and efficient Public Services Institution for the
growth and welfare of a state.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 10


Ethics Assignment

3. Ethics in Public life and Civil Services

Ethics is a set of values and principles that helps guide behaviour, choice and action.
Organizations as well as individuals have certain ethical standards. In democracy, every
holder of public office is accountable ultimately to the people. Such accountability is
enforced through a system of laws and rules, which the elected representatives of the
people enact in their legislature. Ethics provides the basis for the creation of such laws
and rules. Also, in a democracy any person holding a public office derives his authority
and power because of people.

Civil servants have a special responsibility because they are entrusted with
managing resources on behalf of the community, delivering services to the community
and taking decisions that affect a citizen’s life. The community, therefore, must be able to
trust the integrity of the civil service decision-making process. Civil servants are expected
to maintain high standards of professionalism, responsiveness and impartiality. One of the
most comprehensive statements of what constitutes ethical standards for holders of public
office came from the Committee on Standards In Public Life in the United Kingdom,
popularly known as Nolan Committee, which outlined following Seven Principles of
Public Life:

(i) Selflessness

Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should
not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their
family or their friends.

(ii) Integrity

Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other
obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in
the performance of their official duties.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 11


Ethics Assignment

(iii) Objectivity

In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding


contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public
office should make choices on merit.

(iv) Accountability

Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public
and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

(v) Openness

Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and
actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict
information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.

(vi) Honesty

Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their
public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects
the public interest.

(vii) Leadership

Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership
and example.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 12


Ethics Assignment

4. Ethical Issues in Indian Civil Services

Today the Indian Civil Services are facing a large number of ethical issues and most of
them, directly or indirectly, are related to corruption. Corruption is an important
manifestation of the failure of ethics. The word ‘corrupts’ is derived from the Latin word
‘corruptus’, meaning ‘to break or destroy’. The word ‘ethics’ is from original Greek term
‘ethicos’, meaning ‘arising from habit’. It is unfortunate that corruption has, for many,
become a matter of habit, ranging from grand corruption involving persons in high places
to retail corruption touching the everyday life of common people. Various ethical issues
faced by our civil services are:

4.1. Asymmetric distribution and Abuse of Power


In our society, corruption and abuse of office at all levels and organs of state has
become a symbol of our civil services because of certain factors like enormous
asymmetry of power in our society. Nearly 90% of our people are in the unorganized
sector. Quite a number of them lead a precarious existence, depending on subsistence
wages with no job security. And nearly 70% of organized workers with job security
and regular monthly wages employed by state directly or through public sector
undertakings. Almost all these employees are educated in largely illiterate or
semiliterate society and economically even the lowliest of public servants are better
off than most people in the country. What is more, their employment in government
comes with all the trappings of power. Such asymmetry of power reduces societal
pressure to conform to ethical behaviour and makes it easy to indulge in corruption.
Also there is a colonial legacy of unchallenged authority and propensity to exercise
power arbitrarily. In such a society which worships power, it is easy for public
servants to deviate from ethical conduct. Over regulation, excessive state control,
near- monopoly of government in many sectors ,various state subsidies and
beneficiary oriented programs in a situation of asymmetry of power have converted
the public servants into patron and masters ( the so called mai-baap) and reduced

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 13


Ethics Assignment

most citizens into mendicants. This at once enhanced opportunities to indulge in


corruption and reduced the citizens’ capacity to resist extraordinary demands.

4.2. Lack of accountability


There is a general feeling that existing mechanisms of accountability are inadequate.
On the one hand, there are alibis for non-performance and on the other, competence
and integrity are not adequately recognized or rewarded. Over-centralization has
increased the distance between authority and accountability. The large number of
functionaries between the citizen and final decision makers makes the accountability
diffused and the temptation to abuse authority stronger. Therefore, innovative and
effective mechanisms need to be put in place to protect public money, guarantee
intended outcomes and enforce accountability.

4.3. Political interference and Cronicysm


The permanent bureaucracy is said to be the servant, or the operational tool, of its
political master. There is nothing offensive in being the servant of a democratic and
popularly accountable political master. But what happen’s when it is at the mercy of a
corrupt and ideology-less polity, and then increasingly joins the fun-and-games of
private pleasure overtaking public interest, adversely affecting professional
performance. The civilian administration not only faces continuous interference
(frequent transfers at all levels and inexplicable super-sessions at the higher level) but
worse, its members (especially at the higher levels) actually invite interference about
which few complain. Riddled with ever-increasing factors of casteism, regionalism
and cronyism, the large number of meritorious postings and so-far-neutral promotions
are overshadowed by instances of bad personnel decisions. This may explain the
growing public awareness of declining civilian performance as also why the armed
forces have a visible professional pride, while most civilian administrators lack it –
limiting themselves to individual self-praise.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 14


Ethics Assignment

4.4. Lack of Integrity


The dictionary defines integrity as 'soundness of moral principles; the character of
uncorrupted virtues; uprightness; honesty; sincerity, Integrity is, indeed, the most
essential attribute of a welfare state. The first five year plan rightly emphasised;
"Integrity in public affairs and administration is essential and there must, therefore,
be an insistence on it in every branch by public activity. The influence of corruption
is insidious. It undermines the structure of administration and the confidence of the
public in the administration. There must, therefore, be a continuous war against every
species of corruption within the administration."

Causes for decline in integrity:


a) Inadequate remuneration and spiralling costs of living.
b) Lack of strong public opinion against corruption.
c) Cumbersome, complicated and dilatory working mechanisms of public offices,
helping in growth of dishonest practices like ‘speedy money’.
d) Undue protection given to public services

4.5. Lack of action against corrupt officials


Anti-corruption interventions so far made are seen to be in effectual and there is
widespread public cynicism about them .Conditions have deteriorated to such an
extent that corruption is way of getting things from civil servants, whereas it has
become impossible for a just and honest officer to conduct his duties impartially and
honestly, forcing them to succumb to corrupt practices or to leave their job or face
various difficulties. Committees are made to look into corrupt practices or
wrongdoings of corrupt officials but their findings are never implemented, guilty
officials escape any concrete exemplary punishment, which encourages others to
disregard various rules and regulations and encourages corruption.

4.6. Lack of proper protection to Whistleblowers


Our country lacks proper statutory and legal framework to give proper protection to
whistleblowers and to ensure their safety. This discourages potential whistle blowers
to raise their voice against any unethical practices being followed, out of fear for their

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 15


Ethics Assignment

life and property. This also encourages unethical and corrupt practices in public
services.

4.7. Lack of proper Code of Conduct for Public Servants


There is a lack of proper Code of Conduct regarding ethical behaviour of public
servants, there is no well defined set of rules which specifies various do and don’ts
for every civil servant right from higher level to lower level, such a condition gives
rise to arbitrariness in conduct of services, which encourages unethical behaviour.

4.8. Lack of transparency and sensitivity towards common man


The fact, that the functioning of civil services has an impact on the quality of
governance and thus on the well-being of the citizen and the welfare of the
community as a whole is often forgotten. The perception of the civil services today is
of a vast impersonal organization without commitment to human needs and values. It
is necessary to redress the situation, particularly in this era of participative
democracy, by making the governance apparatus an instrument of service to the
people. The system is also beset with problem of lack of transparency, which arises
due to the rigid and non flexible services setup, which has no fear of any disciplinary
measures due to the protection provided to them by various constitutional provisions

Apart from these ethical issues there are various other issues which are ailing our
civil services setup. Some of them are as follows:
• Lack of professionalism and poor capacity building.
• Outmoded rules and procedures that restrict civil servants from performing
effectively.
• Systemic inconsistencies in promotion and empanelment.
• Arbitrary and whimsical transfers- insecurity in tenure impedes
institutionalization.
• Ineffective incentive systems that do not appreciate upright and outstanding civil
servants but rewards the corrupt and incompetent.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 16


Ethics Assignment

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 17


Ethics Assignment

5. Measures for better ethical conduct of civil servants

In view of above facts and issues regarding ethical conduct of civil servants and its
importance in nation building and larger welfare of citizens of a country, it is necessary to
adopt various measures to set things right. Some of the measures which can be adopted
are:

5.1. Measures against corruption


All forms of corruption are reprehensible and we need to promote a culture of zero
tolerance towards corruption. But some forms of corruption are much more pernicious
than other and deserve closer attention than others. In vast majority of cases of bribe a
citizen is a victim of extortion and is compelled to pay a bribe for a service in order to
get a service to which he is entitled. There are several cases of collusion between the
bribe giver and the corrupt public servant. In such cases of collusive corruption both
parties benefit at immense cost to society. Awarding of contract for public works and
procurement of goods and services, recruitment of employees, evasion of taxes,
substandard projects, collusive violation of regulations, adulteration of food and
drugs, obstruction of justice and concealing or doctoring evidence in investigation are
all examples of such dangerous forms of corruption. To eliminate and prevent all such
forms of corruption, all procedures, laws and regulations that breed corruption and
come in way of efficient delivery system will have to be eliminated. The perverse
system of incentives in public life, which make corruption a high return and low risk
activity, need to be addressed. In this context, public example had to be made out of
people convicted on corruption charge and the legal process in such cases has to be
expedited. This hopefully, will also address the growing permissiveness in the society,
in the more recent times, to the phenomenon of corruption.

5.2. Fixing of accountability


In our civil services, at most levels authority is divorced from accountability, leading
to a system of realistic and plausible alibis for non-performance. Most functionaries
are thus caught in a vicious circle. The term accountability is derived from the word
‘account’ and it denotes the answerability for the proper discharge of one’s duty. To
[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 18
Ethics Assignment

be accountable means to be answerable for one’s conduct and to render an account of


one’s activity. Subordinates are accountable to their superior for the satisfactory
performance of the work assigned to them. Thus a proper system of accountability
should be developed to pin point the defaulters who do not adhere to set standards.
For greater accountability, the following are some of the measures suggested:
• Strengthening and streamlining reporting mechanisms
• Streamlining and fast-tracking departmental enquiries
• Linking performance with incentives
• Overhaul of employee grievance procedures
• Action on audit findings
• Implementation of Citizens Charters’ for monitoring service delivery
• Right to Information Act and its enforcement
• Code of conduct for civil servants

5.3. Transparency
The Right to Information Act, 2005, is one of the most concrete steps towards
increasing transparency, in its statement of objectives it recognizes that ‘democracy
requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information, which are vital to its
functioning and also to contain corruption and hold governments and their
instrumentalities accountable to the governed.’ There is widespread consensus that
good governance must be participatory, transparent and accountable. The present
system in India, however, is firmly grounded on mistrust. This system of mistrust has
to be removed to achieve better results in working of our civil services. Media can
also play a key role in highlighting the prevalent corruption and in creating negative
public opinion against tolerance of corruption.

5.4. Reducing discretion


Opportunities for corruption are greater in a system with excessive discretion in the
hands of the official machinery particularly at lower levels. Such opportunities can be
minimized by reducing discretion and introducing transparency in the system and

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 19


Ethics Assignment

introducing strict accountability for action. There are large numbers of governmental
activities where discretion can be reduced or totally eliminated. Wherever it is not
possible to eliminate discretion, then the exercise of power should be bound by well
defined guidelines to minimize discretion. Reducing discretion paves the way for
preventing arbitrary decisions.

5.5. Ensuring accessibility and responsiveness


Departments of government have to be accessible to members of public and
responsive to their need and aspirations and also responsible for prompt redressal of
their grievances. To ensure this, it is necessary that the facilities, concessions and
rights which are available to them in each department should be made public and the
details about authority who are competent to grant them together with the procedure
for securing the same and getting their grievances should be put in public domain.
Every department should be required to take steps to understand the problems of its
customers, define the standards which the department would maintain in the provision
of its services and specify the conditions which customer should fulfil to qualify for
the same.

5.6. Code of Ethics for Civil servants


A proper and detailed code of ethics should be developed for civil servants
mentioning about various do and don’ts by civil servants while performing their
duties. It should clearly list various standards which are expected from a civil servant.
The training system should be adapted and developed for inculcating ethical values in
newly recruited civil servants.

5.7. Law for protection of whistleblowers


A strong and comprehensive law should be framed in order to ensure safety and
security of whistleblowers. Strong provisions should be there to prevent
whistleblowers from any harm, so that potential whistleblowers can feel encouraged
to complain about any wrongdoing or corrupt practices being followed by civil
servants in any department.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 20


Ethics Assignment

5.8. Insulating civil servants from undue political interference


In a democracy, the civil service has to be answerable to the elected government.
There is criticism, however, that increasingly partisan intervention and cronyism are
undermining the rule of law, distorting incentives and condoning corruption. This is
adversely affecting the morale of public servants. The relationship between the
political executive and the civil services needs to be transformed on the basis of
mutual understanding, respect and recognition of each other’s distinct roles and
responsibilities.

5.9. Promoting Competition


Most public services in India are provided by government in a monopolistic setting.
Such a situation by its very nature is conducive to arbitrariness, and complacence with
a high probability of a section of functionaries taking advantage of the ‘departmental
hegemony’ for corruption. Introduction of an element of competition in the provision
of public services is thus a very useful tool to curb corruption. Two successful
initiatives can be cited in this connection; first, the gradual de-monopolisation of the
telecom sector; second, the growing role of private players in providing direct
marketing services to farmers outside the government controlled mandis in Madhya
Pradesh.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 21


Ethics Assignment

5. Concluding Observations

Within the framework of good governance, an all pervasive ethical conduct is


required. In the maxims of accountability, openness, transparency, freedom of
information and effective administrative system, ethics is the inevitable component
and an intervening variable. In the Government of India’s Action Plan on Effective
and Responsive Administrative System, there is clear emphasis on establishing a code
of ethics for public service as well as on tackling corruption and cleansing
administration. This naturally implies that good governance would demand an
integrated control system that would synthesize intrinsic (self) regulation and extrinsic
control. Some of the suggested mechanisms in this context are:
• Creation of national multi-headed ombudsmen (Lok Pal) with effective
punitive powers and granting it a constitutional status.
• Expanding the network of Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and state
vigilance bodies and granting the CVC a constitutional status.
• Creating effective sectoral ombudsmen on the Swedish and British pattern and
establishing institutions like Banking Lok Pal in the realms of railways,
power, insurance, telecommunications and other associated sectors.
• Revamping the judicial system and for quicker decisions and disposal. Slow
justice is never a threat to fast tracked crimes. All judicial cases should be
assigned time limit for disposal.
• Anti-corruption machinery at the state level should not remain the reserve of
the police department. Inter-institutional organizations, including the
representatives of judicial bodies, should be created for investigation and
further processing of cases within specified time limits.
• The jurisdiction of CBI should be extended to state level crimes of corruption.
However the procedures involved in investigation should be streamlined in
order to drastically reduce the time consumed in conducting enquiry.
• On Australian pattern, Whistleblower in the public system should be given
constitutional protection.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 22


Ethics Assignment

• Article 311 of the constitution should be amended in order to facilitate quick


and severe punitive action against civil servants of doubtful integrity.
• ‘Freedom’ of information should transform itself into ‘Right’ to information
with even common citizens showing assertiveness in demanding and
obtaining information on the inner dynamics of governance.

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 23


Ethics Assignment

6. Bibliography

1) ‘Contemporary Debates in Public Administration’ by ‘Alka Dhameja’,


Publication : Prentice Hall India
2) ‘Politics, Ethics and Social Responsibility of Business’ by ‘B.B. Tayal &C B
Gupta’ Publication: Sultan Chand and Sons
3) ‘Reforms in Governance And Administration (An approach paper of the
Second Administrative reforms Commission)’
4) Seminar lecture ‘Transforming Our System Of Governance’ by ‘M.Veerappa
Moily’ and ‘Corruption and Right to Information’ by ‘Wajahat Habibullah’
Source:www.indiaseminar.com
5) Paper on ‘Civil Services Reforms’ by ‘M.Satish ,Knowledge Manager(Human
Development), Centre For Good Governance, Hyderabad

[Ethical Issues in Civil Services] Page 24

Você também pode gostar