Oppn slams Centre's lateral entry experiment; Nitish defends move

As the debate over the Centre's decision to allow lateral entry of experienced professionals as joint secretaries escalated, opposition parties today said there were "serious misgivings", alleging it was a result of Modi government's "administrative failure".

However, key BJP ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar defended the move, asserting the scheme was an experiment the need for which arose because of the paucity of IAS and IPS officers across the country.

Notwithstanding the opposition's criticism, Union minister Satyapal Singh pitched for extension of the lateral entry scheme to government-run educational institutions too and said the issue should not be politicised. The Minister for State for Human Resource Development said the scheme would improve the efficiency of educational institutions.

RJD's Manoj Jha saw the move as an attempt to have a "committed bureaucracy".

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said there were serious misgivings about the move and it has a number of questions that needed to be answered on the issue.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, the former union finance minister said it needs more details on the issue and will raise its questions separately in detail.

"We need to have more details...We will raise a number of questions. Let us see what the government's answer is before we come to a final conclusion.

"There are serious misgivings about their advertisement that has appeared but there are a number of questions that deserve to be asked and we will in the next couple of days ask those questions," he said when asked about the issue.

Chidambaram said there had been examples of outstanding individuals being brought in to serve as Secretaries to the Government of India for two-three years.

However, bringing people at the joint-secretary level in ministries where various polices are framed, "We need to know more, we will have a number of questions, we will address them separately."
The Department of Personnel and Training advertisement also said, "The Government of India invites talented and motivated Indian nationals willing to contribute towards nation building to join the government at the level of Joint Secretary."