Cabinet Secretary TV Somnathan
New Delhi: Cabinet secretary TV Somanathan on Tuesday invoked Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s vision of a politically neutral, integrity-driven body of civil servants who would not engage in public feuds and would fearlessly provide honest advice to the administration.Times of India has learned that Somanathan, who is known for his candid views, in his speech on ‘Ethics and Efficiency in Civil Servants’, also asked officials to adhere to rules of conduct, while suggesting that senior and political executives should be given “just cause” if they are asked to do anything that is not in line with the rules.Earlier, addressing the first meeting of the Civil Service Day attended by the country’s top bureaucrats, Somanathan said individual officers may sometimes fall short of Patel’s ideals but the underlying ethos of a politically neutral civil service capable of providing impartial and candid advice has been “enduring”.He said the civil service played a vital role in maintaining unity, integrity and democracy in India.The Cabinet Secretary read out an admonition that Patel had given in his 1947 address to the first batch of new recruits to the Indian Administrative Service – “Civil servants cannot and must not take part in politics, nor be involved in public disputes. To deviate from the path of integrity in these areas is to debase the public service and lower its dignity.”He also quoted part of Patel’s speech to the Constituent Assembly in October 1949, stressing how political executives should allow bureaucrats to express their opinions without “fear or favor”.“If you don’t give honest opinions for fear of upsetting your minister, then you’d better leave. I will bring another secretary. I will never be unhappy for expressing opinions candidly,” Patel had said, quoting the country’s first home minister.
