Lateral recruitment scheme an attempt to saffronise bureaucracy: Congress leader Veerappa Moily

NEW DELHI: The lateral recruitment move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is an attempt to saffronise the bureaucratic institutions, former Union law minister Veerappa Moily said today.

The government has invited applications from "outstanding individuals", even from the private sector, for the joint-secretary level in different ministries.

Advertisements were published in leading newspapers last week.

Moily, who served as the chairman of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, claimed to have learnt that a branch of the RSS was conducting the orientation programme for Indian Statistical Service (ISS) officers.

This mechanism, Moily alleged, was a way of furthering a plan to saffronise 25 per cent of the IAS officers.

He told PTI Bhasha that with the introduction of the lateral entry scheme, the government had made a hurried and ad hoc decision with its eye on the Lok Sabha elections, which are less than a year away.

He said that the government should move ahead only after introducing a lateral recruitment policy and holding discussions about it with different stakeholders.

Pointing out that the government had not clarified which agency would be responsible for the recruitment, Moily said this move could ruin the civil services.

The former minister said that the scheme was a way to undermine the caste-based reservations.

He asked the government to explain how the reservations will be applicable under the lateral recruitment scheme.

He also shot down the government's claim that the move would improve the efficiency of institutions. Moily said that the scheme lacked transparency and was politically motivated.