Centre had announced recruiting 10 posts in select departments on contract 6,000 specialists apply for 10 joint secy posts

New Delhi, Aug. 19: Over 6,000 candidates have shown interest in 10 posts of joint secretaries in the central government offered to private sector specialists as part of the Modi government’s bid to bring in fresh talent in bureaucracy, officials said on Sunday.

The personnel ministry had recently announced recruiting 10 joint secretaries in select government departments through “lateral entry” mode, thus allowing private sector talents to join the government on contractual basis.

A total of 6,077 applications have been received for the joint secretary posts, the officials said.

The posts of joint secretaries are in revenue, financial services, economic affairs, agriculture and farmers welfare, road transport and highways, shipping, environment, forest and climate change, new and renewable energy, civil aviation and commerce departments. The deadline to apply for the posts was July 30.

The term lateral entry relates to the appointment of specialists, mainly those from private sector, in government organisations.

There are a maximum of 1,100 applicants against one post, depending on the department concerned. The minimum application for a post is 290.

“The Central government has started the process of short-listing the candidates,” a senior personnel ministry official said.

There are about 5,004 Indian Administrative Service officers, against the strength of 6,500, working across the country.

Usually, the posts of joint secretaries are manned by the IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS officers recruited through civil services examination conducted by the UPSC.

Citing the names of former PM Manmohan Singh, who was also a bureaucrat, and the then Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was appointed through the lateral recruitment route, the government had last month informed Parliament that there has been no adverse effect on the morale of the civil servants due to such appointments. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh said the government had decided to undertake lateral recruitment of 10 joint secretaries on contractual basis in order to achieve the twin objectives of bringing in fresh talent as well as augmenting the availability of manpower.