Civil servants must be fearless, apolitical: Somanathan invokes Sardar Patel | India News
Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan
New Delhi: Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan on Tuesday called for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s vision of politically neutral and integrity-driven civil servants who are not embroiled in communal conflicts and fearless in giving honest advice to the executive.TOI learned that in his address on “Ethics and Efficiency in Civil Services”, Somnathon, known for his outspoken views, also advised officials to adhere to the rules of conduct, saying that if they are asked to do something that is not according to the rules, they should give “adequate reasons” to senior and political executives.Earlier in the inaugural session of the Civil Service Day attended by the country’s top bureaucrats, Somanathan said that individual officials may stray from Patel’s ideals from time to time, but the core principles of a politically neutral civil service capable of impartial and open advice have “endured”.He said that civil services have played an important role in safeguarding India’s unity, integrity and democracy.The Cabinet Secretary read out Patel’s warning to the first recruits of the Indian Administrative Service in 1947 – “A civil servant cannot afford to take part in politics and must not engage in communal quarrels. To deviate from the path of justice in both these cases is to demean and degrade his public service.”He also quoted part of Patel’s speech to the Constituent Assembly in October 1949, highlighting how political executives should allow bureaucrats to express their views without “fear or favour”.Patel said, “If you are not going to give your honest opinion fearing that it will offend your minister, then please you better go. I will bring another secretary. I will never be offended for expressing an open opinion,” Somanathan quoted the country’s first home minister as saying.
