Do you think political neutrality is an essential ingredient of civil service in a democratic setup for the integrity the efficiency of administration?

 Do you think political neutrality is an essential ingredient of civil service in a democratic setup for the integrity the efficiency of administration?

Political neutrality is an essential ingredient of civil service in a democratic setup for the integrity the efficiency of administration. It means that the civil service .should give free and frank advice to the government impartially and without any political consideration. It also means the implementation of the decisions of the government by the civil service faithfully whether such decisions were in consonance with their advice or not; P.C. Sethi in his article, "New Challenges in Administration" in the Indian Journal of Public Administration  has rightly said that the concept of neutrality should be emphasised to generate:

a) public confidence in the administrators against political influences;

b) Trust among the ministers that their orders would be faithfully carried out irrespective of their ideology; and

c) keeping of an atmosphere of appraisals and promotions in the civil service which would be free from political influence.

To maintain the discipline, integrity and political neutrality of the services, the Civil Services Conduct Rules iramed by the Government of India lay down the code of conduct to be observed by the government servants. The service rules for ensuring neutrality of the service in politics provide that:

1. No member of the service shall be a member of, or be otherwise associated with any political party or any organisation, which takes part in politics nor shall .h e/she take part in, subscribe in aid of, or assist in any other manner.

2.It shall be the duty of every member of the service to endeavour to prevent any Condiliom of Service member of the family from taking part in, subscribing in aid of, or assisting inany other manner, any movement or activity which is, or tends directly to be,subversive of the government as by law established and where a member of theservice fails to prevent a member of his/ her family from indulging in any of theaforesaid actions, he/she shall make a report to this effect to the government.

3.No member of the service shall canvass or otherwise interfere or use his/ her influence in connection .with or take any part in, any election to any legislature or local authority.

4.A member of the service qualified to vote in elections may exercise his/ herright to vote but where helshe does so, helshe shall give no indication of the manner in which helshe proposes to vote or has voted.

The Committee on Petititions (Rajya Sabha) considered the political rights of civilservants in its fifty-first report presented to the Rajya Sabha in June 1977. RajyaSabha did not favour the granting of political rights of civil servants as this would have an adverse effect.

The problem is how to make the civil servant sensitive to national programmes andkeep him/ her away from partisan political activity

N. Rajagopalan in his article,

"Political Mentality of the Public Service: A Perspective Study" in the Indian Journal of Public Administration (January-March, 1977) has rightly concluded that

"As a human being no public servant can be psychologically neutral on issues and problems which confront him. No public servant can possibly take a neutral position between welfare and stagnation, between service and apathy,and between action and inaction. A commitment to the goals and objectives ofthe state is inescapable, neutrality cannot be allowed to degenerate intounconcern, political sterilization, ought not become political desensitization.There is a crying need, more than ever before, for developing sense ofresponsiveness and positive concern in the public administration to the goalsand programmes of the state in democratic governments, if publicadministrative is to deliver the goods and take its rightful place in the national polity ."