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Assault on Delhi Chief Secretary is an assault on the Civil Services of India

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A piquant situation has been created in the Delhi Government. A constitutional crisis. The Civil Servants are shocked by the assault on Mr Anshu Prakash, Chief Secretary, Delhi Government. It must be for the first time in the Republic of India that ahead of civil services has been assaulted. The incident amounts to a “functional crisis and breakdown of governance”.

The assault on the head of civil services, Delhi government is an extremely serious issue having severe implication on the governance and morale of the civil servants in the country. It is tantamount to an attack on the civil services of India viz., the backbone of the administrative machinery of the country and should not be allowed to go unpunished.

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It would be pertinent to mention, what Sardar Patel said on 10th October 1949 in the Constituent Assembly of India.

“If you want an efficient all-India service, I advise you to allow the service to open their mouth freely. If you are a Premier, it would be your duty to allow your Secretary, or Chief Secretary, or other services working under you, to express their opinion without fear or favour. But I see a tendency today that in several provinces, the services are set upon and told, “No, you, are servicemen, you must carry out our orders.” The Union will go, you will not have a united India, if you do not have a good all-India service which has the independence to speak out its mind, which has a sense of security that you will stand by your word and that after all, there is the Parliament, of which we can be proud, where their rights and privileges are secure. If you do not adopt this course, then do not follow the present Constitution.”

It is sad that in Delhi, the civil servants have been facing problem from the political leadership. The situation created by the absence of conducive environment has led many officers to seek the transfer out of Delhi or apply for deputation. The instances of misbehaviour, high handedness, discourtesy towards civil servants have been growing and have become widespread. It is not relevant to give details of all the instances. What is more important is the total demoralization of the civil servants, which in turn is bound to adversely affect the governance and the implementation of the welfare measures for the citizens of Delhi.

The constitution of India has defined a clear role for the civil services and it is important that civil servants are allowed to work as per the role envisaged for an effective, efficient and progressive public administration.

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Most of Civil Services Associations have condemned the attack including IAS Association. IAS Association is right when it states that “This incident is the culmination of a series of incidents of officers being subjected to verbal abuse and intimidation by political authorities from time to time. All these incidents tend to lead to impairment of the effective functioning of the bureaucracy in free and impartial manner. In view of the above, the Associations have, in the past, repeatedly urged the political executive to allow the officials to discharge their duties professionally.”

Assault on Chief Secretary, Delhi Govt is an assault on the Civil Services of India. It should not be allowed to go unpunished

(Ashish Joshi, is a civil servant. He is a post-graduate from St Stephen’s College and an alumnus of Indian Institute of Public Administration and National Institute of Financial Management. The views are personal)

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