Citing former PM Manmohan Singh, govt says no adverse impact on bureaucracy from 'lateral entry'

Citing the names of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was also a bureaucrat, and the then Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia as being appointed through the lateral recruitment route, the government on Wednesday said there has been no adverse effect on the morale of the civil servants due to such appointments.

Some prominent persons have been appointed earlier also on lateral entry basis to man specific assignments from time to time, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

This includes among others, appointment of Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Vijay Kelkar, Bimal Jalan, Shankar Acharya, Rakesh Mohan, Arvind Virmani, Arvind Panagariya, Arvind Subramanian, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Parameswaran Iyer, Ram Vinay Shahi, R Ramanan and Sekhar Bonu, he said.

"No adverse effect on the morale of the civil servants has resulted from lateral recruitments," the minister said.

Niti Aayog in its three year action agenda 2017-18 to 2019-20 has highlighted that it is essential that specialists be inducted in to the system through lateral entry on fixed term contract, he said.

The lateral entry mode, which relates to the appointment of specialists from private sector in government organisations, is considered as an ambitious step of the Modi government to bring in fresh talent in bureaucracy.

The Sectoral Group of Secretaries (SGoS) submitted a report in February, 2017 in which it has inter alia been observed that there is shortage of officers at the Joint Secretary/Director/Deputy Secretary Level, due to reduction in recruitment in the Service during 1995-2002, Singh said.

Based on the recommendation of SGoS, the government has decided to undertake lateral recruitment of ten joint secretaries on contract basis in order to achieve the twin objectives of bringing in fresh talent as well as augment the availability of manpower, he said.