The DoPT is the nodal agency that regulates and monitors the recruitment, service conditions, postings, transfers and deputation of all central government employees, which includes the Indian Administrative Services and the three Secretariat Services:

Central Secretariat Service (CSS), Central Secretariat Stenographers Service (CSSS), and Central Secretariat Clerical Service (CSCS).

The Union Public Service Commission recruits for the IAS while Staff Selection Committee handles subordinate posts.

The Training Division oversees the training of the personnel recruited, at the initial and later stages of their careers.  The two main recruiting institutes are Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, based in Mussoorie and Institute of Secretariat Training and Management. While the LBSNAA provides training to IAS and other All India Services officers, the ISTM imparts training to Central Secretariat officers.

The DoPT also supervises the Central Vigilance Commission, which monitors administrative corruption; the Central Bureau of Investigation, which investigates crimes of various kinds, including corruption; and the Central Information Commission, which oversees Right to Information Act-related issues.

On the recommendation of the Macaulay Committee, the first modern Indian Civil Service materialized in 1854. The committee did away with the East India Company’s patronage-based system. Instead, it emphasized selecting candidates based on merit, to be judged through competitive examinations. The committee recommended that candidates appearing for the examination should be Oxford or Cambridge graduates.

Initially, Indians were not allowed to compete but subsequently they were, and from 1922 on, exams were held in India. After Independence, the Indian government chose to retain the basic structure of the services.  The constitution allows the formation of All India Services based on article 312. The First Administrative Reforms Commission was established in 1966. It presented a reported on Personnel Administration in 1969.

The DoPT was established in 1970 following this report. The ARC suggested setting up a separate Department of Personnel, to be directly under the control of the prime minister. The Home Ministry previously oversaw public services. It took 15 years for the DoPT to achieve its current form as Department of Personnel and Training, Administrative Reforms and Public Grievance and Pensions, operating as three departments rolled in one. In 1985, it was designated as Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

Indira Gandhi held the charge of the ministry from 1970 to 1977. In 1977, the ministry was shifted back to the Home Ministry. Rajiv Gandhi took charge of the Department of Personnel as PM again, from 1985 onwards. Since then, subsequent PMs have run the ministry.

The DoPT regulates and oversees recruitment and training of government personnel. The prime minister heads the department, assisted by a Minister of State. The Secretary (Personnel) is the bureaucrat in charge of the department. Two additional secretaries and four joint secretaries assist him.

The department is divided into five wings: 

1) Establishment Officer

This section handles senior appointments and foreign assignments. An Establishment Officer, who is the Secretary to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, runs the section. All appointments to senior positions in the government require the ACC’s approval.

Establishment also oversees the Joint Consultative Machinery, a system devised to allow the central government and its employee to hold consultations over service related matters.

Staff Welfare: the DoPT runs Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committees for central government employees working outside Delhi. It also supervises recreation hall/clubs and canteens for various ministries. It acts as nodal agency for four registered societies that work for the welfare of central government employees. All the four societies are based in Delhi. They are Central Civil Services Cultural and Sports Board, Grih Kalyan Kendra, Civil Services Cultural and Sports Board and Kendriya Bhandar.

2) Services and Vigilance

The section is oversees and sanctions India’s massive bureaucracy. The Central Vigilance Commission also advises the DoPT on all vigilance related matters. The CVC has jurisdiction over all government related matters. It was set up in 1964, following the recommendation of an anti-corruption committee. The Central Bureau of Investigation also investigates cases of corruption in the country.

3) Establishment

This section devises policies for the personnel. This Includes deciding how much leave they get, enacting pay rules, keeping track of who has seniority, and setting the retirement age and other the rather prosaic functions.

4) Administrative Tribunal and Administration

Central Administrative Tribunal: The tribunal was established in 1985 to try cases of central government employees. This was to allow central government employees to have their service matter related grievances addressed in a court of law, without over burdening the usual channels of justice. The tribunal has 17 benches all over the country, with a principal bench at Delhi.

5) Training

Training: The Training Division maintains administrative control over two institutions set up for the purpose of providing training to recruited personnel.

The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration provides training to Indian Administrative Service officers and other central government employees. The merging in 1959 of the IAS Training School, Delhi and the IAS Staff College, Shimla formed the Academy. It came under the DoPT in 1985. Previously, it functioned under the Home Ministry.  The Institute of Secretarial Training and Management trains officials of the Central Secretariat Services.

Public Enterprises Selection Board:  The board selects and appoints bureaucrats at senior managerial positions in public sector undertakings of the central government. It was established in 1974. The board functioned under the Ministry of Industry earlier but it was given to DoPT in 1986. The board is headed by a chairman and comprises three members.

Recruitment: The department recruits new personnel with the help of two agencies, the Union Public Service Commission and the Staff Selection Committee.

The UPSC conducts an all India examination for the purpose of selection of personnel. The UPSC is a constitutional body. The need for an autonomous UPSC was felt by the constituent assembly for the purpose of allowing fair representation of meritorious candidates.

The Staff Selection Committee recruits personnel for subordinate posts. It was constituted in 1975 as Subordinates Services Commission. It was renamed as the Staff Selection Committee in 1977. The SSC was formed as the Administrative Reforms Commission recommended common recruitment of subordinate staff for all the ministries.

The ministry spends $105 million on Administration of Justice and Central Administrative Tribunals under the Revenue section. Public Service Commission and Staff Selection Commission get $6.8 million. The Department of Personnel and Training receives $110 million in salaries. Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare gets only approximately $6 lakh. Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances spends around Rs. 2 million dollar on salaries etc.

Propagation of Right to Information Act gets $9 million. CBI gets a substantial amount of $50 million for its activities. The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration receives $9 million. The Central Vigilance Committee spends $3 million annually. Around $2 million is what the Central Information Commission gets.

Positions for Dalits, Tribals and Other Backward Classes Remain Vacant

As a way to remedy historical inequality, the government has set aside a number of reasons for groups like Dalits, tribals and other marginalized communities.

Around 60,000 posts, earmarked for candidates belonging to reserved categories, are lying vacant in various central government ministries. The DoPT asked all the ministries to submit a final report by May 21 in this regard. The seats were to have been fulfilled by March 31, through Special Recruitment Drives.

As of August 2012, approximately 43,000 of the set aside positions were filled. The vacant seats, however, speak to the challenges filling reserved seats when so many members of India’s least fortunate still lack the education and training to undertake these jobs.

Thousands of Reserved Seats in Ministries, Depts Vacant, Says Centre (by Vishwa Mohan, Times of India)

Over 43,000 Backlog Vacancies Filled in Last Recruitment Drive (Press Trust of India)

Ministries Refused to Sanction Corrupt Bureaucrats

The DoPT is concerned about ministries and departments refusing sanction for initiating probes against bureaucrats. In the last three years, sanction has not been awarded in more than one third of cases filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Moreover, many ministries and departments also break often the three-month deadline for awarding sanction.

Glare on Save-babus Club (by Archis Mohan, The Telegraph)

Weakening the RTI Law through Word Games

The central government has been accused of weakening the RTI law by imposing a restriction to keep an RTI query limited to a single public authority. This is being done in the context of allowing RTI queries to be registered by telephone, a new governmental initiative. This essentially makes getting any information on IAS officers doing wrong a word game. Citizens have to make sure to phrase their questions correctly in order to get the information they are looking for. This process can take years.

Government to Use Technology to Limit Information Given under RTI  (by Aloke Tikku, Hindustan Times)

IAS Officers Refuse to Declare Assets

In India, that district collector, and IAS position is almost always the most powerful person in the district.  The collectors have power over almost all the money that comes from the central government to the district. As a result, there is great temptation to accept bribes to award contracts to a favored builder or a political ally.  The one way the Department of personnel and training can track suspected corrupt officers is through the immovable property returns, which show the assets of IAS officers. If an IAS officer has assets befitting Anil Ambani rather than a humble civil servant, the DoPT can investigate. But as of August of 2012, 127 IAS officers had failed to submit their Immovable Property Returns. All IAS officers are mandated to submit the details of their IPR but noncompliance continues. This has forced the DoPT to issue a fresh reminder to the relevant ministries where these bureaucrats are working, third such warning in recent times.  The problem isn’t limited to just the IAS.  In 2011, 864 members of the Indian Police Services didn’t submit their Immovable Property Returns.

Government Mulls Action against 127 Defaulting IAS Officers (Press Trust of India)

Delhi, UP Police Chiefs Fail to Submit Returns (Press Trust of India)

Confiscate Bureaucrats’ AMEX

After years of Indian bureaucrats taking liberties with their credit cards, the Finance Ministry in May 2012 instructed the DoPT to cut down on the wasteful expenses racked up by bureaucrats.  This is seen as even more important in view of the worsening global and national economy. Air travels of bureaucrats will be curtailed and when they do fly, they’ll be traveling economy class. Some thought have also been given to banning or severely curtailing the babus’ travel to foreign seminars and events.  The effectiveness of these suggestions on these renowned wastrels remains to be seen.

Dopt Bid To Cut Cost On Babus (by Rajnish Sharma, the Deccan Chronicle)

Should the Government Induct Paramilitary Forces into the IAS Cadre in Naxal-Affected Areas?

Almost 30% of IAS positions in the country are currently lying vacant. Underdeveloped states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa, which also face a strong Naxal insurgency, are the worst sufferers.  In areas where the state is already weak, the lack of qualified bureaucrats can strengthen the insurgents’ hold on power.  At the same time, many qualified IAS officers would rather not be posted in an area where their lives and the lives of their families are in constant danger. To meet the shortfall, the government has decided to induct high-ranking members of the Army’s paramilitary forces into the IAS. As might be expected, the plan has met with significant opposition from members of the Indian Administrative Services.

Pro-Inducting Paramilitary Forces

The Union Public service commission believes that the only way to increase this critical shortage of officers is doing. Inducting them directly from the paramilitary forces.  The UPCS argue that not having bureaucrats in place in insurgency wracked areas makes the lack of governance they even worse.

Against Inducting Paramilitary Forces

Established IAS officers argue that members of Indian administrative services are supposed to have a baseline level of aptitude.  Altering the entrance requirements, they say, will dilute the reputation and proficiency of the IAS.

IAS Facing a 30% Staff Shortage on Weak Hiring (Financial Express)

It's A Catch-22 Situation For High-Ranking Officials In Maoist Areas (by Aman Sethi, The Hindu)