Frontline – August 02, 2019

thirdof the vacancies in Indian civil
servicesisfilledby promotionof eli-
giblecandidatesworkingin different
States’services,”the petitionsaid.
His petitionpointed out that
sincethe motive of private compan-
ies wasto makeprofit, therecouldbe
no guaranteethatthe person coming
intothegovernmentsectorwould
notalso tryto ensureprofits for
private companiesand workdis-
creetlyfor thecorporates.“Business
housesmayusetheopportunityto
pushin theirownmen.Theadvant-
agewiththecurrentcivilserviceis
thatpolicymakershave long-term
interestsin government.Theyalso
havea traditionof fairness andstake
in the government.Private sectorin-
dividualsbrought on contract of
three or five years may serve
someoneelse’s interestas theywould
haveno long-termstakein thegov-
ernment,”statedthe petition.
Dr Chandrapalwarnedthatany-
onewhowascloseto the incumbent
governmentcouldgettheposition,
making it difficultforbureaucrats
whocamethroughthe UPSC.He re-
quested thecourtto declarethere-
cruitmentnoticeunconstitutionalas
it waslikelyto openthe gatesfor the
spoils system, driving talented
peopleaway from a civil service
career.
Theselection processwasnot
manifestly politically neutral and
wouldadverselyimpactthe constitu-
tionalmandateforaffirmativeac-
tion,the petitionsaid.It pointedout
thatit wouldbypassthereservation
policyandleadto favouritism. It
wouldcompromisethe accountabil-
ity of thegovernment andleadto a
potential lossof internaltalentand
an atrophyof career-based services.
Thepowersandfunctionsof the
UPSCandtheStatePublicService
Commissionsarecontainedin Art-
icle 320 of theConstitution,which
holdsthatit is theirdutyto conduct
examinations for appointmentsto
theservices of theUnionandthe
servicesof the State.Article 320 also
provides that these commissions
mustbe consulted on all mattersre-
latingto themethodof recruitment
for thecivilservicesandcivilposts.
Selectionsto senior positionsin the

Uniongovernment shouldbe done

throughthe UPSC,a constitutionally

mandated institutionset up for this

purpose, Dr Chandrapalpleaded.

“Thecourtfinallytoldthegov-

ernment that theyhadto recruit

throughtheUPSCandso we with-

drewourplea,”Dr Chandrapal told

Frontline.

CONFLICTOFINTEREST

In August 2018, the government an-

nounced thatit hadreceivedmore

than6,000applicationsforthese

posts,andin April thisyear,the

UPSCfinalisedninerecruits.

AmberDubey was selected as

JointSecretaryfor theMinistryof

CivilAviation. He hadservedas Part-

ner andHeadof KPMG in Aerospace

andDefence and,as such,wasa do-

mainexpert.Buthe hadalsobeen

member andco-chairof the Confed-

erationof IndianIndustry,the U.S.-

IndiaBusinessCouncil,theAmer-

icanChambers of Commerce,the

Federationof IndianChambersof

Commerce andIndustryandthe As-

sociated Chambers of Commerce

andIndustry of India,all, essentially,

lobbies.

Similarly, BhushanKumar, who

wasappointedas JointSecretaryin

the Ministryof Shipping,waswork-

ing as GeneralManager of the LNG

unitof GujaratStatePetroleumCor-

poration. He washeadof shipping,

business development andcontracts.

He wasalso reportedlythe CEOand

MDfor a yearat DiamondShipping

Services LLC,a wholly ownedsubsi-

diary of the Dubai-based Sharaf

Group.SujitKumarBajpayeewas

selectedas JointSecretaryin the

Ministry of Environment,Forestand

ClimateChange.Heusedto work

withthe NHPC as manager,environ-

ment.Hewasresponsibleforthe

overallplanningof newhydropower

projects,secured clearances for them

fromthe Environment Ministryand

supervised theimplementation and

monitoring of various environ-

mentalsafeguardsstipulatedby the

government.

TheotherJointSecretarieshired

throughlateralentrywereSuman

PrasadSinghfor RoadTransport

andHighways,Kakoli Ghoshfor Ag-

riculture, RajeevSaksenafor the De-

partment of EconomicAffairs, Arun

Goelfor Commerce,SaurabhMishra

forFinancialServices andDinesh

Jayanand Jagdalefor New andRe-

newableEnergy.

A data analystwhodidnotwant

to be namedsaid: “Notto castasper-

sionsonindividuals,whocanbe

aboveboard...butthefactremains

thatindividualswhoworkedin cor-

poratehousesandwerepartof lob-

biesandadvocacy groupsto push for

laxergovernmentnormsandcon-

trolshavenowbeencatapultedto the

seatof power fromwheretheycan

formulatethoseverynormsandcon-

trols.After thegovernmentstint,

thatindividualwillgo backto the

industryandenjoy thosesamerules

thattheyformulated.Thereis a clear

conflict of interestright there.”

SUBVERTING RESERVATION

As predictedby Dr Chandrapalin his

petition, thegovernment managed

to bypass,throughlateralentry, re-

servation fortheScheduledCastes

(S.Cs),Scheduled Tribes and the

OtherBackward Classes(OBCs). Ex-

pertsexplainedthatsincethere-

cruits were single-post cadre,

reservationdidnotapply.Hadthey

APILpetitionpointedouttherecould

benoguaranteethatlateralentry

recruitswouldnottrytoensureprofits

forprivatecompaniesandwork

discreetlyforthecorporates.