Tuesday, February 18th, 2025

Then UPA II had proposed lateral entry at the joint secretary level, this process would have led to direct entry into the government


New Delhi: There was a lot of controversy in recent times over the advertisement of lateral entry issued by UPSC. The proposal of direct recruitment of high ranking officials in various government departments was not liked by the opposition as well as the NDA constituents. Due to internal voices, the government finally had to withdraw this decision. Now another thing related to this lateral entry has come to light. In the last days of the second term of the Manmohan government, a proposal for lateral entry at the joint secretary level was made through UPSC. Records received by The Indian Express show that a proposal was made to open 10% posts at the joint secretary level.UPA-2 had also proposed lateral entry
Acting on a recommendation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC), the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had, in January 2011, proposed opening up 10% of posts at the joint secretary level for lateral induction from the private sector/academia, etc. In this regard, a note from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said that lateral entrants would be selected by the UPSC on the basis of their CVs and an interview/limited competitive examination.

More than two years later, in June 2013, according to records, the Pay Commission recommendation was examined by the DoPT, Department of Expenditure and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Later, a concept note on the lateral entry proposal was circulated and various ministries and departments were asked to identify posts requiring specialised knowledge. The 2013 concept note was circulated again in June 2014, but according to official records, very few responses were received and the proposal did not move forward.

The decision was withdrawn in three days, know why the opposition parties were attacking the lateral entry
Modi government also discussed this in 2017
The Modi government, which came to power after the departure of the Manmohan Singh government, discussed the lateral entry scheme in a PMO meeting on April 28, 2017. The initial decision was to keep it outside the purview of the UPSC and conduct the lateral recruitment process – from finalising the advertisement to recommending candidates to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) – under two selection committees composed of secretaries and external experts.

A selection committee, to be headed by the Cabinet Secretary, was to pick joint secretaries for lateral entry. The panel for deputy secretaries/directors was to be headed by the most senior of the three secretaries in charge of home, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and finance. However, on May 11, 2018, a DoPT official noted that the UPSC (Exemption from Approval) Regulations would have to be amended if these posts were to be filled through this route.

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So make a plan like this

The file note explained that the posts of JS, Director and DS are filled on deputation by officers of All India Services and Central Group ‘A’ Services under the Central Staffing Scheme (CSS). Since the members of these services are initially recruited by the UPSC, the commission is not consulted while selecting such officers on deputation. But under the lateral entry scheme, the official said, the field of selection is open to external candidates and since “these posts will have the character of other Group ‘A’ posts of the Central Government, consultation with the UPSC is mandatory. Hence, within a year, a reconsideration was done and the government decided to hand over the lateral entry recruitment to the UPSC. On November 1, 2018, the UPSC said it would recommend one candidate at a time and keep two other names in the reserve list for each post. It further clarified that this process of selection is being treated as a one-time affair and there is no regular process to be continued every year.

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