Decision to introduce Civil Services Bill pending; But why?

THE government has not yet given the final call whether Civil Services Bill which has already been drafted would be introduced in Parliament or not. Minister of State in the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithviraj Chavan informed it in Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Significantly, the minister did not elaborate why no decision on introducing the Bill was taken despite the draft was ready. Civil servants in India are closely watching the development related to the Bill as it envisages to break them free from the clutches of their political masters in matters related to transfers among others. The minister informed the House that the Civil Services Bill envisages to provide a statutory basis for the regulation of the Civil Services in India and regulate their appointment and conditions of the service in addition to laying down the fundamental values of civil services, the Civil Services Code of Ethics, Civil Service Management Code etc. What's further proposed is to set up a Civil Services Authority for facilitating review and develop Civil Services as "a professional, neutral, merit based and accountable instrument for promoting good governance and better delivery of services to citizens." Related Stories Government seeks high standard of ethics among civil servants (July 3, 2009) My Take: Brand-Building Of Europe’s Bureaucracy (June 30, 2009) Dr Manmohan Singh’s prescription for IAS (May 30, 2009) Over 22K pending cases in CAT As many as 22372 cases are pending in various benches of the Central Administrative Tribunal as on September 30, 2009. During 2007 and 2008, 17725 and 18287 cases were filed in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) out of which 18674 and 20352 cases were disposed of respectively. It was stated in a written reply in Parliament on Thursday. As a step towards clearing the backlog, a monthly pendency report is called for from all the benches of the Central Administrative Tribunal and the rate of disposal is personally monitored by the chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal. Also, targets are being set up by the chairman for the benches. Also, benches are now advised to give priority to the disposal of old cases pending between 2004 and 2007. Action & Appointments a) Justice Swatanter Kumar, Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court has been appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India. b) Justice Manmohan, Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court has been appointed as a Judge of the Delhi High Court c) Justice Syed Rafat Alam, Judge of the Allahabad High Court has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Disclaimer: The picture which is the cover of Henry Reining, Jr's book is symbolic.