The Department of Personnel and Training Minister, Jitendra Singh wrote to the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission on Tuesday to cancel the lateral entry advertisement related to several lateral entry posts at various levels in the central government as per directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I am writing to you on the important issue of lateral entry into the Government of India. Recently, the UPSC issued an advertisement related to a number of lateral entry posts at various levels in the Central Government. It is well known that, as a principle, lateral entry was endorsed by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission which was constituted in 2005, and chaired by Shri Veerappa Moily. The recommendations of the sixth pay commission in 2013 were also in the same direction. However, both before and after that there have been many high-profile cases of lateral entrants,” the letter said.
“Under earlier governments, posts as important as that of the Secretary in various ministries, leadership of UIDAI, etc., have been given to lateral entrants without following any process of reservations. Further, it is well known that the members of the infamous National Advisory Council used to run a super-bureaucracy that controlled the Prime Minister’s Office,” the Minister’s letter added.
“While most of the major lateral entries before 2014 were made in an ad-hoc manner, including cases of alleged favouritism, efforts of our Government have been to make the process institutionally driven, transparent and open,” the letter said.
“Further, the Prime Minister is of the firm belief that the process of lateral entry must be aligned with the principles of equity and social justice enshrined in our Constitution, particularly concerning the provisions of reservation. For the Prime Minister, reservation in public employment is a cornerstone of our social justice framework, aimed at addressing historical injustices and promoting inclusivity,” the letter stated.
“It is important that the constitutional mandate towards social justice is upheld so that deserving candidates from marginalized communities get their rightful representation in the government services. Since these positions have been treated as specialized and designated as single-cadre posts, there has been no provision for reservation in these appointments. This aspect needs to be reviewed and reformed in the context of the Prime Minister’s focus on ensuring social justice,” it added.
“Hence, I urge the UPSC to cancel the advertisement for lateral entry recruitment issued on August 17, 2024. This step would be a significant advance in the pursuit of social justice and empowerment,” the letter said.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack against the centre over the lateral entry of individuals into top government positions saying that it is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis.
Taking to social media platform X, Rahul Gandhi wrote, “Lateral entry is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis. BJP’s distorted version of Ram Rajya seeks to destroy the Constitution and snatch reservations from Bahujans.”
Several other opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, MK Stalin and Sitaram Yechury had opposed the government’s move of lateral entry. Voice of dissent from within the NDA also came up with Chirag Paswan objecting to the notification.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw however clarified Monday that these openings “do not cut into the roster of any civil services” or impact the reservation system for regular openings. He said these positions are temporary and created for only three years. He termed opposition criticism as “false and baseless”.
“These new job openings do not cut into the rosters of any service. What is the roster? Roster is the how many SC candidates, how many ST candidates, how many OBC candidates will have to be taken and balance is general. The roster is created keeping in mind that every next candidate taken is from a reserved category,” the minister told reporters.
Saying that “misleading imputation that Congress is doing is baseless and false”, the minister said, “This (the lateral entry) was done in UPA government, and before that NDA government and before that Congress government. They had lateral entry also but were done in an un-systemic manner. What we have done is to make it systemic and transparent by giving it UPSC.”
The UPSC recently released a notification for recruiting Joint Secretaries, Directors, and Deputy Secretaries through lateral entry. This decision had ignited criticism from opposition parties, who claim it undermines the reservation rights of OBCs, SCs, and STs.
