The deterioration of the civil service

 Like in the days of yore, even -today about 10% of IAS officers do not follow the ‘procedure’ of presenting bouquets to or fawning on a new Chief Minister who has just assumed office. They wait until there is an official meeting with the CM when they introduce themselves.

When the civil service was under the ICS standard, that is during the British regime, and even until Tamil Nadu’s stewardship of the great Mr K Kamaraj, the Chief Secretary would hardly meet the CM, unless there were pressing reasons to do so. In fact until the days of Mr MGR’s rule, ministers would personally meet the Chief Secretary when there is a need to do so for official reasons and never talk over the phone to him.

At the same time, until Mr Karunanidhi became the CM, the Chief Secretary would never visit the CM’s residence. Furthermore, the CM’s personal staff, in present times, has become a powerful force of influence to reckon with.

Even Chief Secretaries, go to great lengths to befriend the CM’s Secretaries and act as though they may require the latter’s aid at some time or the other.

While no IAS officer ever worked in the CMO, it was Mr MGR who appointed an IAS officer as his Private Secretary, which later became the norm. And during Ms Jayalalithaa’s just-concluded regime it became the practice of IAS officers becoming the CM’s special secretaries.

As I stated before some civil servants do not run around attempting to meet the CM. Shocked and astounded, they debate the troublesome question of “How did the quality of IAS be diminished to such levels?”

It used to be the practice of appointing civil servants to departments where they had experience and talent. For instance to appoint a Secretary for the Industries Department a list would be submitted from a section called Public (Spl. A). This list would contain names of people who had already served as Deputy Secretary in that Department or those of senior bureaucrats with previous experience in Industries Department. The list would give in detail each person’s qualification, educational background, experience, etc. The Chief Secretary would then select one of these civil servants and forward his name to the CM, which would then be accepted automatically.

In such a system IAS officers would easily figure out who would become the head of which department and accept changes whole-heartedly. The appointment of Heads of Departments was also done in similar fashion, and there would be no frustration or regrets.

The first change

The appointment of Mr Rayappan, IAS, as the Chief Secretary is oft quoted as the first time these procedures were changed. In actuality, Tamil Nadu’s last ICS officer Mr N S Mani should have become the Chief Secretary as per seniority rules in 1969. However, maybe because he was a Brahmin, the DMK Government named Mr Rayappan, who was junior to Mr Mani, who within 24 hours opted for Voluntary retirement.

“The Civil Service has been raped, and its deterioration has started” was the comment made by an IAS officer. The foundation had been laid for politicians to change civil servants as and when they pleased.

The events that followed can be termed comic if the issue is not so serious. Rumours swirled around the Chief Secretary, considered to be a DMK favourite, and the Inspector General of Police Mr Mahadevan (there were no DGPs then) meeting Mr Kamaraj as the consensus was that Congress would come back to power in 1971 elections. But the general opinion was proved wrong and DMK retained power. Immediately Mr Sabanayagam was made Chief Secretary and Mr Rayappa transferred as Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission

It was said that both the CM and the new Chief Secretary had special bonding. The CM cannot be held at fault on any moral grounds for appointing Mr Sabanayagam, also considered close to the DMK. He had already set the trend of appointing someone based on loyalty, viz., Mr Rayappa. And when he considered that such a belief about loyalty was misplaced there can be no flaw in selecting another person on the same basis of personal loyalty.

We can hardly fault Mr Rayappa’s actions also. If loyalty was the basis of him becoming the Chief Secretary then his meeting Mr Kamaraj, apparently the next CM, and seeking his patronage can be considered logical.

The path turns

It is during this period that we can reckon that many an erroneous basis was laid in the administrative machinery. Until this time, a Private Secretary helped the CM in performing his administrative duties, such as organizing his day’s work, screening people who sought appointments, explain the nuances of the various files the CM had to scrutinize, and so on. These were in his line of duty and he had no role to play in the CM’s political activities.

Mr Nagarajan became the Private Secretary to the CM and he was not an IAS officer. He was a District Revenue Officer, and later was promoted to the IAS. He had a plus point in that he was very close to the then Chief Secretary Mr Sabanayagam.

As I explained earlier, it was the practice to appoint an IAS officer selected by the Chief Secretary to a specific post.

But the Chief Minister Mr Karunanidhi, if he wanted an IAS officer in a particular office, would mention his name to Mr Nagarajan, who would then pass it on to Mr Sabanayagam. The Chief Secretary would then send the selected candidate’s name in the requisite file as though it were his choice.

Thus the practices of the Chief Secretary selecting candidates and the CM wanting his man in place were both met.

It was also during this period that it became a regular habit for party officials to casually enter the CMO and make their recommendations to Mr Nagarajan, who would then ring up the concerned officials and have the “job done”. Extreme threats and officious behaviour not only became the norm but it was also the time when government officials began doing work for the ruling party.

(To Continue)