Indian Civil Service Act, 1861 – Background

• Following the demise of the East India Company’s rule in India in 1858, the British civil service assumed administrative responsibilities.
• The Indian Rebellion of 1857, which came dangerously close to overthrowing British rule in the country, prompted the change in governance.
• In 1853, a competitive examination was held, but Indians were barred from participating.
• However, in 1858, the system of reserving principal posts for members of the covenant service (meaning British) was implemented.
• The Indian Civil Services Act of 1861 validated a number of irregular appointments made in India to meet the needs of the company’s service in India, despite the restriction that all offices in the civil cadre of the company’s service in India were reserved for the civil services of the Presidency.
• The civil service recruitment was scheduled, as was the number of appointments to be filled “only by members of the covenanted Civil Service in the future.”
• As a result, the Principal positions were reserved for British citizens.

Indian Civil Service Act, 1861 – Features

• The civil services act of 1861 stated that any person, whether Indian or European, could be appointed to any of the offices (specified in the schedule annexed) if he had lived in India for a minimum of seven years.
• The individual was required to pass an exam in the vernacular language of the district in which he worked.
• The appointment was also made conditional on passing departmental tests or meeting other qualifications.
• All appointments were now to be reported to the Secretary of State and, if not approved within twelve months, were declared null and void.
• The maximum permissible age gradually decreased from 23 (in 1859) to 22 (in 1860), 21 (in 1866), and 19 (in 1878).

Statutory Civil Service

• Lytton established the Statutory Civil Service in 1878-79, with one-sixth of covenanted posts filled by Indians of high families through nominations by local governments subject to approval by the secretary of state and the viceroy.
• However, the system failed and was repealed.

Aitchison Commission, 1886

• In 1886, a Commission led by Sir Charles Aitchison was appointed to devise a plan for admitting Indians to all branches of government service.
• It was expected to investigate the issue of Indian employment not only in appointments normally reserved by law for members of the covenanted civil service but also in uncovenanted service covering lower-level administrative appointments.
• The idea of changing the system of recruitment to the covenanted civil service was rejected by the Commission.
• It advocated the abolition of the Statutory Civil Service and the division of civil services into three categories: Imperial, Provincial, and Subordinate.

Montford Reform, 1919

• The Government of India Act of 1919 on Constitutional Reforms proposed a three-tiered classification of services: All India, provincial, and subordinate.
• All Imperial services operating in the provinces at the time, whether in reserved or transferred departments, were referred to as the ‘All India Services.’ Members of the All India Services were given special protections in terms of dismissal, salaries, pensions, and other rights.
• As a safeguard against political influence, the Act proposed the establishment of a Public Service Commission tasked with recruiting for the service.

Lee Commission, 1924

• Lee Commission, a body appointed by the British government in 1923 to examine the ethnic composition of the government of India’s superior Indian public services.
• Lord Lee of Fareham presided over the committee, which had an equal number of Indian and British members.
• It turned in its report in 1924.
• In 1924, the Lee Commission proposed that 40% of future entrants be British, 40% be directly recruited Indians, and 20% be promoted from the provincial service.

Government of India Act, 1935

• The 1935 Act proposed the formation of a Federal Public Service Commission and a Provincial Public Service Commission within their respective spheres.
• However, positions of control and authority remained in British hands, and the process of Indianisation of the civil service did not provide Indians with effective political power because Indian bureaucrats acted as agents of colonial rule.

Civil Service – After Independence

• For reasons of national unity and achieving a minimum level of administration, the Indian Civil Service and Indian Police Service were allowed to continue after independence.
• The structure of the civil services changed after independence. There are three types of services: All India Services, Central Services, and State Services.
• 1947 – Following the transfer of power, the Indian Civil Service was replaced by the Indian Administrative Service.
• 1950 – The Federal Public Service Commission was replaced by the Union Public Service Commission in 1950.
• On April 15, 1958, then-Union Home Minister Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant announced in the Lok Sabha that the government would establish a National Academy of Administration to train all Civil Services recruits.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs also decided to combine the IAS Training School in Delhi and the IAS Staff College in Shimla to form the National Academy of Administration, which would be located in Mussoorie’s Charleville Estate.
• The Academy’s name was changed to “Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration” in October 1972, and the word “National” was added in July 1973.
• The Academy is now known as the “Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration” (LBSNAA).

Role of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

• Civil servants are in charge of implementing and carrying out effective and efficient policies for national and social welfare on behalf of the government.
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, young India’s first Home Minister, delivered a special address to the first batch of Indian Administrative Service officers on April 21, 1947, at Metcalf House in Delhi.
• Patel was instrumental in bringing the princely states into the Indian Union.
• Patel’s relationship with civil servants predates his appointment as interim Indian government Home Minister.
• Patel was a very successful barrister in Ahmedabad before joining the freedom struggle, and he frequently dealt with British civil servants on issues concerning law and order in the city.
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, our first Home Minister, envisioned the civil services as the country’s “steel frame.”

Recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission on Civil Services

• In 1966, the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) was established as a follow-up to the establishment of the Department of Administrative Reforms in 1964.
• Its goal was to focus on “the need to ensure the highest standards of efficiency and integrity in public services and to make public administration a fit instrument for carrying out the social-economic goals of development as well as one that is responsive to the people.”

• Civil Services, though not in an organized form, have existed since ancient times. Later, with the arrival of the East India Company, the civil service was composed of a group of men known as factors who carried on its trade. With the shift in emphasis of the company’s functions from trade to administration, the civil service gradually began to assume administrative functions. To meet the growing demand for Indians to work in the civil service, the British government established a number of commissions. Though some changes were made, the Indians felt they were insufficient.