The Narendra Modi government had tailored the second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) recommendation on lateral entries considerably but did not factor in reservations over the past six years, brushing aside repeated demands from Opposition politicians, retired bureaucrats and social justice activists.

For one, the 10th report of the second ARC titled “Refurbishing of Personnel Administration and Scaling New Heights” recommended lateral entry at the additional secretary level but all the recruitments done through this mode since 2018 have been at joint secretary, director or deputy secretary levels.

Also, the commission had suggested that the posts to be opened for outside talent be identified by the Central Civil Service Authority it had envisaged in consultation with the Union ministries. That authority is yet to be set up.

There was no mention of reservation in lateral entries purportedly because it was to be very limited; essentially to get in “specialised knowledge which may not always be available with career civil servants”.

What was rolled out in 2018 with the first recruitment of 10 persons at the joint secretary level was tailored differently. Any graduate over 40, including officials working at the same level in state governments or with 15 years of experience in PSUs, universities, private sector companies and international organisations, were eligible for the contractual appointment of three years with provision for a two-year extension.

As there was no mention of reservation in the now-scrapped new advertisement, questions were immediately raised within the bureaucracy and also by some Opposition politicians such as the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav. Calling the government “Manuwaadi”, he tweeted in Hindi that this attempt by the government to bring people of its choice into the bureaucracy violated the Constitution and the reservation policy.

In May 2023, retired bureaucrats — who had formed the collective Constitutional Conduct Group — had written to the President seeking her intervention in preserving the civil services, which Sardar Patel had referred to as the “steel frame of India”. Lateral entry was one of the issues they flagged.

In the letter, they said: “In the past governments have permitted lateral recruitment at senior levels and many such officers have distinguished themselves. Lately, however, there has been opacity in the recruitment process at mid-levels and concerns that candidates are being chosen based on their ideological predilections. The consequences of this for the future of an independent civil service requires no comment.”