Sunday, June 2, 2002		Books

The rot in state public service commissions started long ago
Harbans Singh

State Public Service Commissions
by V .P. Dubey and N .K. Dubey. Arun Publishing House (P), Chandigarh. Pages: 384. Rs 800.

THE authors have done a commendable job for those who wish to know the history and functioning of the State Public Service Commissions in India. Beginning from how and why they came into existence to the relationship between Union and state public service commissions and suggestions on improving their functioning, everything that one needs to know is there. In between, wherever V. P. Dubey feels (the other author has been disassociated from the comments in the book), he has made critical comments about the system, the manner in which the members are nominated, the way the work is distributed among them and how the examination system has come to be subverted by the autocratic Chairmen and spineless members.

The problem, however, is the timing and the title of the book which says State Public Service Commissions (Institutions under attack from outside and crumbling from inside). Thus with the unfolding of the current events, the expectations of the reader are very high, especially when one of the authors happens to be a former member of the Punjab Public Service Commission. Perhaps, the reader thinks, here is an insider whose conscience has been sufficiently nudged to make him unburden the accumulated guilt of years. Or, here comes the knock out punch which will signal both the destruction and the regeneration of the system. Alas! The book only compiles what has been suspected in the region for a long time, and leaves the task of accusing and prosecuting the guilty men to some one else.

Corruption in the Public Service Commissions is the core issue for the people, and the readers would be surprised to find that their belief that this affliction is of recent origin is wide off the mark. In fact a member of the Constituent Assembly, Brajeshwar Prasad, while speaking on the draft resolution, charged the Provincial Public Service Commissions of corruption, inefficiency and nepotism regarding appointments, promotions and transfers. Another member, Dr. P .S. Deshmukh said: "the whole procedure is so circumvented the choice of the PSC becomes more or less an automatic approval of appointments already made. The evil has gone to such an extent that vacancies are made for persons and persons are not sought for vacancies."

The founding fathers of our Constitution, after careful deliberation, laid down a system which they believed would serve the country well. But a system is as good as the men who run it. Thus, clause by clause and step by step, the politicians in collaboration with the bureaucracy have succeeded in rendering it ineffective. Thus whether it is the number of members of the Commission or their being appointed as chairmen of some government corporation after the tenure, or how the examination is to be conducted or the manner of constituting the interview board, has now been made so flexible as to serve either the political masters or their pecuniary interests.

Obviously, the intent of the founding fathers of the Constitution has suffered a setback. The book is full of cases dealt by the courts, but there is not a single example of a member resigning in protest at the malpractices to expose the misdeeds. The reader is all the more disappointed when one of the former members opts to write about the rot, yet he holds back the punches. After extensively quoting on the subject from The Tribune, he not only shies away from quoting specific cases but repeatedly takes shelter behind the phrases ‘highly placed sources revealed,’ and 'it is reliably learnt'. At one place, on page 259, even when quoting from a newspaper report, he inexplicably fails to mention the name of the Minister regarding ad hoc appointments made by him in the Excise and Taxation Department. He does not even mention the date and the year of the report! Similarly, he is also guilty of failing to mention the names of the Chief Ministers who appointed the Chairman and Members who had to resign following a scandal.

Perhaps, the authors were overly cautious about these issues, though otherwise the book provides fairly comprehensive information about Public Service Commissions despite the fact that it could have done with better editing. As for the claim that they write about 'institutions under attack from outside and crumbling from inside' they are no knights-in-shining-armour leading an assault on a system which is suspected of robbing the faith of the young. At Rs 800, the book is a little bit over priced.