POLITICAL SCIENCE

PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
PAPER-6

TH
3BA (5 SEMESTER)
 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (PAPER-6)

SYLLABUS (2016)

UNIT-1: NATURE, SCOPE AND THEORIES OF PUBLIC ADMINSTRATION

1.1. Definition
1.2. Nature of Public Administration
1.3. Scope of Public Administration
1.4. Evolution and Growth of Public Administration
1.5. Development of Public Administration
1.6. Significance of Public Administration
1.7. Theories of Public Administrations
1.7.1. The Classical Theory
1.7.2. Scientific Management
1.7.3. Human Relations Theory
1.7.4. Bureaucratic Theory
1.8. Various Approaches to study of Public Administration

UNIT-2: STRUCTURE AND BASES OF ORGANISATION, LINE AND STAFF, CHIEF

EXECUTIVE, PUBLIC CORPORATIONS AND DELEGATED LEGISLATION

2.1. Organizational Structure and Bases of Organization

2.2. Line and Staff Agencies
2.2.1. Line agencies
2.2.2. Staff agencies
2.2.2.1. Kinds of staff
2.2.2.2. Functions of the staff
2.3. The Chief Executive
2.3.1. Types of executive
2.3.2. Powers and Functions of Chief Executive
2.3.3. Qualities needed for a successful Executive
2.4. Public Corporations
2.4.1. Features of public corporations
2.4.2. Evaluation
2.5. Delegated Legislation
2.5.1. Circumstances for delegated legislation
2.5.2. Advantages of delegated legislation
2.5.3. Disadvantages of delegated legislation

UNIT- 3: PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION: METHODS OF RECRUITMENT, CIVIL

SERVICE NEUTRALITY, MORALE

3.1. Concept of Personnel Administration

3.2. Methods of Recruitment
3.2.1. Methods of recruitment
 3.2.2. Advantages of Direct Recruitment or Recruitment from without
3.2.3. Disadvantages of Direct Recruitment or Recruitment from without
3.2.4. Advantages of Recruitment from within
3.2.5. Disadvantages/shortcomings of recruitment from within are as follows:
3.2.6. Qualification of the employees
3.2.7. Methods of determining qualifications
3.3. Recruitment system in India
3.4. Civil Service Neutrality
3.5. Morale
3.5.1. Factors affecting morale

UNIT-4: CITIZEN ADMINISTRATION: OMBUDSMAN, LOKPAL AND LOKAYUKTA

4.1. Modes of Participation in Administration
4.2. Forms of People’s Participation
4.3. The Citizen-Administration Interface
4.4. Citizen's Perceptions about the Administration
4.5. Barriers in Citizen-centric Administration in India
4.6. Ensuring Citizen-friendly Administration
4.7. People's Participation in Administration
4.8. Administrative Accountability
4.8.1. Administrative Accountability in India
4.8.2. Redressal of Public Grievances
4.9. Ombudsman
4.10. The Lokpal Institution
4.10.1. Salient Features of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013
4.10.2. Criticism
4.11. Lokayukta in States
4.11.1. Role of Lokayukta at State Level
4.11.2. Summary
4.12. Right to Information (RTI)

UNIT-5: FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION: BUDGET FORMATION AND PERFORMANCE

BUDGETING
5.1. Nature and Importance of Financial Management
5.2. The Budget
5.2.1. Important principles of budget
5.2.2. Types of budget
5.3. Performance Budgeting
5.4. Merits of Performance Budgeting
5.5. Budgetary Procedures

UNIT-6: NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND ITS DIMENSIONS

6.1. The Honey Report on Higher Education for Public Service—1967
6.2. The Philadelphia Conference on the Theory And Practice of Public Administration—1967
6.3. The Minnowbrook Conference—1968
6.4. The Second Minnowbrook Conference—1988
6.5. Minnowbrook Conference III—2008
6.6. Publication of Books of Marini and Waldo—1971
6.7. Goals of New Public Administration
6.8. Features of new public administration
6.9. Criticism
 A note to the reader

I am greatly pleased to present this work titled, ‘Public Administration’ before its readers. This
piece of work is prepared in accordance with the North East Hill University (NEHU) syllabus to cater
the needs of the students (3rd B.A., 5th Semester, Political Science Honours), and also to provide a
better understanding of the subject in a simple and unambiguous manner.
Keeping in mind the trend of examination pattern
*The syllabus is divided into units as per the latest NEHU syllabus
*The work will enable the students to acquire a complete and detailed understanding of the subject
*Model questions of each unit is provided at the end to help the students prepare for their
examinations
*The last 3 years of University Questions are included
*Model answer is provided at the end.
I hope and believe that this piece of work will cater to the requirements of the students and
wish the readers a happy and enriching experience while reading it.
Suggestions for improvement shall be gratefully acknowledged.

Vishizonu Kulnu
Political Science Department
 UNIT-1

NATURE, SCOPE AND THEORIES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Introduction
Public Administration is a newly emerged discipline compare to other Social Sciences discipline.
It is an important part of society. Public Administration performs different functions in society. It is of
pivotal importance in developing countries like India, which are engaged in efforts to lift themselves
from a backward state to a level of general happiness and prosperity. Public administration is the
instrument of change and development.
The word public administration is the combination of two words—public and administration.
The word ‘Public’ originated from Latin word POPULUS, meaning ‘people’ and the word
‘Administration’ derived from the old Latin word ADMINISTRARE, meaning, ‘rule of service of the
state’. Thus Public Administration means “rule of the state for people”. In simple, it means
governmental administration. It is the study of the management of the public agencies that carry out
public policies in order to fulfill the state purposes in the public interest.
Public administration refers to an activity with which the government is involved. So it can be
said that the word public administration has got more significance in the background of government
functions. Public administration is the combination of two words that is ‘Public’ and ‘Administration’.
Before defining public administration, it is necessary to know and understand the meaning of the term
‘administration’.

What is Administration?
The administration is a very important part of our life. When you go to the highway, educational
institutions, hospitals, etc, you automatically entered the administrative systems. The word
Administration is derived from the Latin words ‘ad’ and ‘ministrare’ which means ‘to serve’. In simple
words administration means to look after people or to manage affairs.
L.D. White rightly said that administration is “a process, common to all group efforts; public or
private; civil or military, large scale or small scale. It is a process of work in a departmental store, a
bank, a school, a hotel or a city.” According to Pfiffner and Presthus, “Administration is the
organisation and the direction of human and material resources to achieve desired ends.” To Simon,
“administration can be defined as the activities of groups cooperating to accomplish common goals.”
According to E.A. Nigro, “Administration is the organisation and the use of men and materials to
accomplish a purpose.”
Thus, it is clear that Administration is collective activity directed towards the attainment of a
specific goal. It is the characteristic of all human enterprises to achieve a purpose or objective in view.
Administration is the process of managing the proper coordination of the relevant elements to achieve
a specified goal. Administration can be private or public. In every sphere of social, economic and
political life there is administration which means that for the proper functioning of the organisation or
institution it must be properly ruled or managed and from this concept emerges the idea of
administration.
Naturally administration implies to bring an institution under proper and fruitful management. So
administration may mean a fruitful management. The word fruitful means every work is done with a
definite purpose. Public administration means that type of administration (or management) which is
especially related with the public and public means all men living in a definite area.
1.1. Definition
Leonard D. White, “PA consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfillment or
enforcement of public policy as declared by the competent authority.”
Salam, Lokmal & Nazrul, “a system of PA is the composite of all the laws, regulations, practice,
relationships, codes and customs that prevail at any time in any jurisdiction for the fulfillment of
execution of public policy.”
Woodrow Wilson, “PA is a detailed and systematic application of the law. Every particular application
of the law is an act of administration.”
Ali Ashraf, “the administration is concerned with the ‘What’ and ‘How’ of government. The ‘what’ is
the subject matter, the technical knowledge of a field, which enables the administrator to perform his
tasks and the ‘how’ is the technique of management, the principles according to which co-operative
programmes are carried to success.”
Luther Gullick, “Public Administration is that part of the science of administration which has to do
with government, and thus concerns itself primarily with the executive branch, where the work of
government is done, though there are obviously administrative problems also in connection with the
legitimate and judicial branch.”
Carson & Harris, “Public Administration is the action part of government, the means by which the
purpose and goals of government are realized.”
Herbert Simone, “By Public Administration it meant, in common as usage, the activity of the executive
branches of the national, state and local government.”
Pfiffner, “Administration consist of getting the work of government done by coordinating the efforts of
people so that they can work together to accomplish their said task.”
The traditional definitions given above reflect the view that Public Administration comprises
those activities that are involved in carrying out the policies and programmes of governments. It is
regarded as the coordination of collective efforts to implement public policies as expressed in laws and
interpreted by courts. The traditional view identifies public administration with the administrative side
of government as opposed to the legislative and judicial side. It presents a formalistic picture of public
administration.
Modern writers of today used the term Public Administration in a broader sense: having some
responsibilities in determining governmental policies and programmes as well as executing them.
Some writers like F.A.Nigro are of the opinions that all three branches of government are part of the
study and practice of Public Administration. According to Nigro, ‘Public Administration’ is
1. Cooperative group effort in a public setting
2. Covers all three branches- executive, legislative, judicial and their inter-relationships
3. Has an important role in the formulation of public policy, and is thus a part of the political process
4. Is different in significant ways from private administration, and
5. Is closely associated with numerous private groups and individuals in providing services to the
community

1.2. NATURE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

There are two divergent views regarding the nature of the Public administration. They are the
following;
Integral View: According to this view, Public administration is a sum total of all the activities
undertaken in pursuit of and in fulfillment of public policy. These activities include not only
managerial and technical but also manual and clerical. Thus the activities of all persons from top to
bottom constitute administration although they are of varying significance to the running of
administrative machinery. Prof: L D White adopts this view of Public administration. According to
him, Public Administration ‘consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfillment or
enforcement of public policy’. This definition covers a multitude of particular operations, many in
fields. Another scholar Marshal E Dimock also shares the same view. He holds that administration is
concerned with the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of government. The “what” is the technical knowledge of a field
that enables the administrator to perform his tasks, and the ‘how’ is the technique of management, the
principles according to which cooperative programmes are carried to success.
Managerial view: According to this view, the works of only those persons who are engaged in the
performance of managerial functions in an organisation constitute administration. In this managerial
view the administration has the functions of planning, programming and organise all the activities in
an organisation so as to achieve the desired ends. The activities concerning management unite, control
and coordinate all those operations that are undertaken in an enterprise, thereby making the whole
complex of activities like an integrated effort. Luther Gullick and Herbert Simon subscribe this view.
Gullick says ‘Administration has to do with getting things done; with the accomplishment of defined
objectives’.
It may be mentioned here that neither of these views can be summarily rejected, exact meaning
of administration would depend on the context in which the term is used. Dimock, Dimock and Koeing
sum up by observing that “as a study Public Administration examines every aspect of government’s
efforts to discharge the laws and to give effect to public policy; as a process, it is all the steps taken
between the time an enforcement agency assumes jurisdiction and the last brick is placed; and as a
vocation, it is organising and directing the activities of others in a public agency.
These two views deal with the nature of public administration. And simply, the nature of Public
Administration deals the execution.

1.3. SCOPE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The scope of Public administration can be discussed under the following two headings-
1. The POSDCORB View
2. The Subject-matter View

The POSDCORB View of Public Administration

This is a narrow view of public administration. It takes into account only the executive branch of
the government. It corresponds with the managerial view. The supporters of this view are Henry Fayol,
L. Urwick, Fercey M. Queen and Luther Gulick
According to Henry Fayol the main categories of administration are: Planning, Organising, Command,
Co-ordinating and Control. L, Urwick fully supports Fayol’s views. P.M. Queen says that the study of
administration deals with “Men, Materials and Methods.” Luther Gulick sums up the techniques in the
word ‘POSDCORB’, each letter of which describe one technique. These letters stand for
P- Planning, O- Organising, S- Staffing, D- Directing, Co- Co-ordinating, R- Reporting and B-
Budgeting
Planning means working out in broad outline the things that need to be done, the method to be adopted
to accomplish the purpose set for the enterprise.
Organising means the establishment of the formal structure of authority through which the work is
sub-divided, arranged, defined and coordinated for the defined objective.
Staffing stands for appointment of officials in organisation, training the staff and maintaining
favourable conditions of work.
Directing means making decisions and issuing orders, instructions and thus guiding the enterprise.
Co-ordinating means inter-relating the work of various divisions, sections and all the different parts of
work of the organisation.
Reporting means keeping the higher officials informed about the work performed. It is the inspection
by which the higher officer receives information about the work done at the lower levels of
organisation.
Budgeting stands for all that goes with budgeting in the form of fiscal planning, accounting and
control.
POSDCORB activities are common to all organisations. They are common problems of management
which are found in the different agencies regardless of the peculiar nature of the work they do. But
POSDCORB view takes into consideration only the common techniques of administration and ignores
the study of the subject-matter with which an agency is concerned. Therefore, Lewis Merriam
criticised the POSDCORB view.

The Subject-matter View of Public Administration

The subject-matter view of public administration has come into reckoning in the reaction to the
POSDCORB view. This view comprises line functions or services meant for the people. They include
law and order, defense, social security, public health, etc. these services have specialised techniques of
their own, which are not covered by the POSDCORB activities.
Pfiffner has divided the scope of public administration into two heads
a) Principles of Public Administration
b) Sphere of Public Administration
In the first category, public administration covers the organisation, management of personnel,
methods and procedure, material and supply, public finance and administrative responsibility. In the
second category, the sphere of public administration includes the central and state government, its
regional and local authorities and also public corporations. Thus, in the words of Pfiffner, “Public
Administration, in sum, includes the totality of government activity, encompassing expertise of endless
variety and the techniques of organisation and management whereby order and social purpose are
given to the efforts of vast numbers,”
Walker has given a more comprehensive account of the scope of public administration. He has
divided it into two parts: Administrative Theory and Applied Administration.
Thus, it is obvious that though Public Administration studies the administrative branch of the
executive organ, yet its scope is very wide and it varies with people’s conception of good life.

1.4. EVOLUTION AND GROWTH OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The growth of public administration has many facets. As a discipline, the term public
administration has emerged in the late 19th and beginning of 20th century. American President
Woodrow Wilson, the Father of Public Administration, has contributed very much to the subject of
Public Administration.
The growth of public administration can be broadly divided into the following five stages.
Period I (1887 – 1926) Public Administration Dichotomy: The discipline of Public Administration
was born in the USA. The credit for initiating as an academic study of Public Administration goes to
Woodrow Wilson. He is regarded as the father of the discipline of Public Administration. In his article
entitled “The Study of Administration”, published in 1887, he emphasized the need for studying Public
Administration as a discipline apart from politics. This is known as Principle of politic administration
dichotomy, i.e., a separation of Politics and Administration. Wilson argued that, “Administration lies
outside the proper sphere of politics. According to Frank J.Goodnow, politics “has to do with the
expression of the state will” while administration “has to do with the execution of these policies.” In
short, Goodnow posited the politics-administration dichotomy and he developed the Wilsonian theme
further and greater courage and conviction.
Period II (1927 - 1937) Principles of Administration: The central belief of this period was that there
are certain ‘principles’ of administration and which is the task of the scholars to discover and applied
to increase the efficiency and economy of Public Administration. Scientific management handled the
business of administration becomes a slogan. Administrative practitioners and business school join
hands to mechanistic aspect of management. They claim that Public Administration is a science. The
great depression in the America contributed a lot to the development. These periods were the golden
years of ‘principles’ in the history of Public Administration. This was also a period when Public
Administration commanded a high degree or respectability and its product were in great demand both
in government and business.
Period III (1938 – 1947) Era of challenge: The main theme during this period was the advocacy of
‘Human Relationship Behavioural Approach’ to the study of Public Administration. The idea of
administrative dichotomy was rejected. It was argued that Administration cannot be separated from
politics because its political nature and role, Administration is not only concern with policy decision
but it deals with the policy formulation. Similarly, the principle of Administration was challenge.
Period IV (1947-1970): The mid-1940s theorists challenged Wilson and Gulick. The politics-
administration dichotomy remained the center of criticism. In the 1960s and 1970s, government itself
came under fire as ineffective, inefficient, and largely a wasted effort. There was a call by citizens for
efficient administration to replace ineffective, wasteful bureaucracy. Public administration would have
to distance itself from politics to answer this call and remain effective. Concurrently, after World War
II, the whole concept of public administration expanded to include policy-making and analysis, thus
the study of ‘administrative policy making and analyses was introduced and enhanced into the
government decision-making bodies. Later on, the human factor became a predominant concern and
emphasis in the study of Public Administration. This period witnessed the development and inclusion
of other social sciences knowledge, predominantly, psychology, anthropology, and sociology, into the
study of public administration. Fritz Morstein Marx with his book ‘The Elements of Public
Administration’ (1946), Paul H. Appleby ‘Policy and Administration’ (1952), Frank Marini ‘Towards
a New Public Administration’ (1971), and others that have contributed positively in these endeavors.
Period V (1971) Continuing: - After the 1970s the evolution of Public Administration has gained new
ways. The emergence of Development Administration, Comparative Public administration and New
Public Administration etc were contributed to the evolution of Public Administration. The emergence
of globalization further contributed to this growth.

1.5. Development of Public Administration

 The term Development administration first coined by U L Goswami in 1955, however the term
was popularized by F W Riggs, Joseph La Palambara etc. The emergence of welfare state and the end
of colonial era are the two significant factors contributed to the concept. The third world countries
were moved to underdevelopment to development, these countries face many problems in this time.
Development administration is focused to the administrative problems.
Development administration is process of guiding an organization toward the achievement of
progressive political, economic and social objectives that are authoritatively determined one manner
the other. Development administration is concerned with following matters
1. Formulation and implementation of plans, policies, programmes and projects for national
development
2. D A focused to the national development; it is ‘action oriented’ and ‘goal oriented’ administrative
system
3. Socio-economic change
4. Time Frame work
5. Client Orientation
6. Goal Orientation and innovation

1.6. SIGNIFICANCE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

In a modern democratic welfare State, the Government has to provide many services for the
welfare of its citizens. It includes the provision of schooling, medical facilities and social security
measures. With the breakdown of joint families, the problem of looking after the old and infants,
orphans and widows comes up. With the slowing of economic activity, the problem of unemployed
youth crops up. The development process brings up many new problems like those of urban slums and
juvenile delinquents. The welfare State has to identify these problems and devise solutions for them.
The formulation of these schemes and their implementation is another significant function of public
administration. The public administration is thus not only a protector of citizens from external dangers
or internal disorders, but has become the greatest provider of various services. The welfare of the
people depends very much on the way the public administration functions. No wonder today’s state
has been called an “Administrate State”. Prof. V.V. Donham has rightly said, “If our civilization fails,
it will be mainly because of administration”. Woodrow Wilson suggested that the objective of
administrative study is to discover what government can properly and successfully do and how it can
do efficiently with the least possible cost either of money or of energy.
The importance of the role of Public Administration in the modern state is steadily increasing.
The functions of state keep on expanding due to the increasing complexities of societies. This led to
‘how’ and in ‘what’ directions the functions should be effectively performed. As the society becomes
complex and advanced, its public administration, too, becomes crucial significance.
The importance of Public Administration can be studied under the following points:
1. Public Administration is the part of the social, cultural and economic life of a nation. No state can
exist without administration. Prof. Waldo remarked, “it is a part of the cultural complex and is not only
is acted upon, but acts.” Lack of sound administration may bring our civilization into pieces.
2. Public Administration is an integral part of a society and also is a great instrument of social
change and improvement. The functions of public administration is now engaged in looking after
numerous needs of human life such as, health, education, recreation, sanitation, social security, etc. It
relates to the whole society. It is the chief agent of social change.
3. Public Administration plays a very important role in the lives of the people. Therefore, its teaching
should be a part of the curriculum of educational institutions to prepare the people into better
administrators to build the nation.
4. Public Administration is a great stabilizing force in the society as it provides stability in society.
When government changes either due to revolution or by election or coups, public administration
provides continuity to the government.
5. It provides several services such as education, health, housing, social security, and a lot more.
Without public administration, the services that are provided by the government can never reach to the
people.
6. The government makes the laws and policies for the people. It is public administration that puts
them in reality.
7. It is an instrument for sustainable development where economic development takes place without
harming the environment. Administrators play a very important role for protecting the environment.
Through public administration, all the environmental issues are solved.
8. It develops the community. When people belonging to different races and religions live together, it
becomes difficult to make a policy that can be applied effectively. Public administration gathers
information about the different communities and thus, helps the government to make policy that can be
applied to the different communities.
9. Public Administration is playing an important role in developing countries, like India, that are
making efforts to lift themselves from a state of poverty. The progress of such country depends upon
the quality of its public administration.
10. Public administration provides services like police and medical services that make citizens secure.
Without it, we can never be safe.
11. At present, the government is expected to provide various services. The increase in the number of
functions undertaken by the government requires highly specialised, professional and technical
services.
To sum up, Public Administration is the first need of a society. It provides us all the essential services
that we need. Its goal is to protect the public interest. Administration is an integral part of each
organised activity.

1.7. THEORIES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS

1.7.1. THE CLASSICAL THEORY
The classical theory, also known as the traditional theory of organization or management, was
first carried out in the late 19th and early part of the 20th century, by Frederick W. Taylor, Henry
Fayol, Max Weber, L. Urwick, James D. Mooney, A. C. Reiley and Brech. It is also known as the
structural theory.
The distinguishing feature of the classical theory is the formulation of certain universal
principles of organisation. The theory believes in the existence of certain universal principles which
can make organisations function more efficiently. It gives attention to the division of work, clear
definition of duties and responsibilities, maintaining specialization and co-ordination.
Most classical writers offered their own set of principles. Fayol propounded fourteen principles
of organisation. He identified the universal managerial functions as planning, organization, control, co-
ordination and command. Urwick specified ten principles. Mooney and Reiley set out a number of
common principles which relate to all types of organizations. Mooney argued that all organisation
structures are based on a system of superior-subordinate relationships that is arranged in a hierarchical
order. He laid emphasis on the scalar principle. Luther Gulick defines major managerial techniques by
the word POSDCoRB (planning, organising, staffing, directing, co-ordinating, reporting and
budgeting). Taylor emphasized the division of labour, fixing everybody’s work for the day and
functional foremanship.
 The classical theory is built around the following ideas: hierarchy, specialization, division of
labour, the scalar principle, unity of command, departmentalization, span of control, parity of authority
and responsibility, centralization and decentralization, and Line-Staff relationship.

Henry Fayol’s Contribution

Henry Fayol is regarded as the ‘father of classical theory’. According to Fayol, knowledge of
administration is more important than the technical knowledge. Knowledge of administration is needed
at higher levels of organisation. To him, the primary functions of administration are: a) to plan, b) to
organise both men and materials, c) to command the subordinates what to do, d) to co-ordinate, and e)
to control. His contributions to the growth of classical administrative thought can be studied under
three heads:
1. Activities of an Industrial Undertaking
2. Elements of Administration
3. Principles of Administration
1. Activities of an Industrial Undertaking: Fayol further divided the activities of an Industrial
Undertakings into six groups. They are as follows:
a. Technical
b. Commercial
c. Financial
d. Security
e. Accounting
f. Administrative
2. Elements of Administration: the elements/functions of administration are:
a. Forecasting and planning- to plan out the work well
b. Organising- to organise the people who are to perform the work
c. Commanding- to give the command to the subordinates in the right manner
d. Co-ordinating- to co-ordinate the workers
e. Controlling
3. Principles of Administration: Henry Fayol propounded fourteen principles of administration.
They are:
a. Division of work
b. Authority and responsibility
c. Discipline
d. Unity of command
e. Unity of direction
f. Subordination of individual interest to general interest
g. Remuneration
h. Centralization and decentralization
i. Scalar chain
j. Order
k. Equity
l. Stability of tenure
m. Initiative
n. Esprit de Corps (Harmony or Union is strength)

Contribution of Luther Gulick

Gulick tried to cover all the activities of the administration in ‘POSDCoRB’ and summed up the
principle of organisation in the word ‘POSDCORB’, each letter stands for a particular function. He
holds that the administrator in the organisation has to perform all the above activities.
Planning- working out in broad outline the things that need to be done and the methods for doing the
work to accomplish the purpose.
Organizing- organising the formal structure of administration, so that work is properly divided,
arranged, defined and coordinated for the defined objective.
Staffing- appointment of personnel and training the staff, and maintaining favourable conditions of
work.
Directing- this is the work of the officers. They are required to provide specific and definite direction,
instruction and guidance to the subordinates about the duties to be performed.
Co-ordinating- it stands for inter-relating the various parts of work.
Reporting- reporting to higher officials as to what is going on.
Budgeting- budgeting in the form of fiscal planning, accounting and control.

Contribution of Mooney and Reiley

James D. Mooney and Alan C. Reiley enunciated the following four principles of organization:
1. The coordinative principle
2. The Scalar or hierarchical principle
3. The Functional Principle (or, division of labour), and
4. The Staff/line principle.

Evaluation
The Classical Theory focuses attention on important factors in the study of organization and
management. No doubt, technical and structural factors are important considerations in improving
organizational performance. The theory provides some common principles that are applicable to all
organizations. These principles still have some relevance. However, the classical theory has been
criticised on various grounds. It deals with what is called formal organization, an organization which is
deliberately and rationally designed to fulfill the objectives of an organization. It is more concerned
with what ‘ought to be’, and did not give importance to the study of actual behaviour in organizations.
It underestimated the human factor and oversimplified the human motivations. Besides, although this
theory propounded various universal principles of organization, they were without adequate
verification, and could hardly provide any meaningful guidance to scholars and practitioners of the
subject. It fails to provide sufficient use of scientific procedures in developing theories. Its insufficient
systematic empirical research is another reason which invites criticism. This theory does not take
sufficient account of personality factors. On the other hand, it creates an organization structure in
which people can exercise only a limited control over their work environment. It ignores the interplay
of individual personality, informal groups and inter-organizational conflicts in the formal structure. It
overlooks human behaviour, the non-rational elements in human conduct and their implications for
workers. It wrongly assumes that workers can be motivated only through economic rewards. Its
approach to organizational structure is narrow. It presents a static view of organizations. It views
organization as a closed system. Based on all these points, the classical theory has been criticised.
Despite these limitations, the Classical Theory of organization has made major contributions to
administration which cannot be ignored. This theory first propounded that administration itself was a
separate activity. It formulated a set of concepts in administration and evolved a terminology which
has provided a base for subsequent researches in this field. Its thinkers also developed administration
into a science. This approach is still useful and will continue to be important in the future.

1.7.2. SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

 The systematic theory of organisation was first formulated by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-
1915), an engineer by profession. He is regarded as the father of scientific management. He was the
first to advocate the adoption of scientific methods in the field of industrial work processes and
management, to promote industrial efficiency and economy. In the latter half of the 19th century, rapid
expansion of business and industry took place due to the Industrial Revolution. New problems of
industrial planning and management were created. The working conditions in the factories were
chaotic as the work methods, tools and procedures were neither standardized nor planned for
efficiency. There was need to increase productivity which required more rational and integrated
approach to managerial problems. To fulfill this need and find ways to raise industrial productivity,
Taylor came out with his ideas on scientific management.
Scientific Management Theory believes that new techniques of management (methods of
science) are required to increase production and promote efficiency. It implies the application of the
methods of scientific investigation for the solution of the problems of industrial management.

Major principles of scientific management

1. Standardization of Work Methods: It seeks to standardize the working conditions such as best
temperature and humidity for achieving productivity, fixing daily task assignments so that the workers
may work in a planned way.
2. Scientific Selection and Training of Workers: It relates to the selection, placement and training of
workers in a scientific manner, and placing workers on jobs for which they are best suited by their
physical and intellectual abilities. Moreover, it is the duty of the management to train workers for their
task and provide them all facilities for the development of their personalities.
3. Equal Division of Work between Management and Workers: Taylor advocates equal division of
work and responsibility between management and workers. Taylor had noted in his observations the
unhealthy trend of the managers to place increasing burden on the workers, while assuming for
themselves only minimum responsibilities. In this context Taylor advised that half of the workers'
work should be taken over by the management. The management had to undertake the functions for
which it was best suited, i.e., planning, organising, controlling and determining the methods of work.
4. Mutual Collaboration of the Workers and Management: There should be active cooperation and
cordial relations between management and workers. There should be mutual faith and trust. Efficiency
and productivity can be best promoted by creating a healthy and congenial environment in the
organisation.

Evaluation
The scientific management has been criticised on various grounds. It has been alleged that the
movement was mainly concerned with organizational efficiency viewed in purely mechanistic terms.
The scientific management did not put forward a fully developed theory of organisation or
administration. The scientific managers restricted their work to level of shop floor activity. They did
not pay much attention to the overall administrative structures of organisations. They also did not
explore organizational decision-making processes beyond the level of the shop.
As far as human motivation, scientific management made assumptions which have proved
incomplete. The rational-economic man, as Taylor assumed man to be, has been replaced by a far more
complex interpretation of human behaviour and of the sources of productivity in organizational
settings". The social and psychological factors which were ignored by the scientific management
school have now become considerably important.
Hoxie described the basic ideals of scientific management as incompatible scientific
management, as the theory concerned itself mainly with production, efficiency and managerial
problems, without touching on the psychological and emotional problems of workers such as the
routine and monotony of their work, uncertainty of employment etc. Sam Lewisohn and Oliver
Sheldon also criticised certain aspects of Taylor’s work. Sheldon stressed the human aspects of
managerial problems, whereas Lewisohn emphasized the maintenance of good human relations in an
organisation. To him, the workers want justice, status and opportunity above everything else. He also
added that a rise in wages would not automatically lead to added efficiency. Miss M P Follett also
stressed the need to bridge the gap between the mechanistic approach of Taylor and the approach
emphasizing human relations in organisation.
Despite this criticism, however, the scientific management has greatly influenced public. Its
significance and importance cannot be underestimated by the above criticisms. Its true worth can be
measured by the growth of a science of management through the application of scientific methods. It
would be important to remember that Taylor’s work of the human relations' aspect of organisations
was underemphasized, but certainly not entirely neglected. As stated earlier, he recognised the
importance of mutual collaboration of workers and management as one of the essential principles for
raising industrial efficiency. Besides, improvement of the working conditions of labour was his chief
concern. One of the main by-products of Taylorism was that workers came to be paid and trained
better, besides working in more congenial conditions than before. Nevertheless, it was gradually
realised that a mechanical application of Taylor’s principles and methods in industry and government
without taking into account other relevant factors would not necessarily result in, higher efficiency or
productivity. However, the essence of his theory that the speed, cost and quality of goods and services
were dependent variables, and that they could be maximized by adjustment of independent variables
such as division of labour, method of supervision, financial incentives, flow of materials and, lastly,
physical methods and condition are still true to a great extent.

1.7.3. HUMAN RELATIONS THEORY

This theory or approach focuses on management as a web of interpersonal relationships. It lays
greater stress on the behaviour of role occupants in an organisation than on the formal structure of the
organisation. The advocates of this school argue that since management and administration involve
group effort and collective endeavors of people, the study of management must be centred on the
individual as socio-psychological being and are more concerned with his motivations. They view
human relations as the heart of the task of management. The underlying emphasis of all these views is
that the solution of the problems of management can be found in the realm of social psychology.
The human relations theory came from the Hawthorne experiments which were carried out in the
USA by Elton Mayo and his colleagues of the Harvard Business School in the late twenties and early
thirties of this century.
In the first experiment workers operating under a piece- rate system were observed to see
whether higher wages motivated them to work more. The researchers were considerably surprised to
find that the workers worked to a point they felt would ensure them of an adequate income, and then
refused to work more. The main reason for this unexpected behaviour was the underlying fear, that
overproduction may lead to retrenchment, a situation which any of them might have to face. The
researchers discovered that the workers were a well-knit social group who were governed by their own
code of work ethics informally agreed to by all members. In another experiment, some female workers
were isolated from the rest and placed under observation. Their levels of productivity under diverse
working conditions were carefully measured. But under all physical changes in their work environment
(like less or more room lighting, rest pauses in work etc), the production by these girls showed a
continually upward rise. This proved that there was no positive correlation between the working
conditions and productivity. However, the reason for the behaviour of the female workers seemed
hardly surprising on further analysis. The girls were conscious of the fact that they had been selected
for a special experiment. Hence, it was little wonder that they tried to give their best performance.
The Hawthorne experiments proved that men are motivated by a variety of factors (not purely/
economic) in work, and are influenced by their social environment. These studies proved that the
workers tend to form small informal social groups with their own code of ethics and conduct in matters
of work, behaviour, beliefs and goals which may be often different from the goals of management.

Criticism
The human relations theory of organisation rejects formal institutionalization. It considers the
informal, day-to-day functioning of the structure more revealing than the mechanistic study of
structure and principles of organisation. It is important to note that the early theories of Mayo,
Roethlisberger and Dickson were criticised for underestimating the scope-of worker- management
conflict or even labour unrest. They were termed anti-union and the theories were allegedly misused
by managers to exploit the working class. As a consequence, the later human relation theorists such as
Argyris and Bennis have stressed the significance of "fusion" approach as the organisation itself.
Organizational goals were deemed as important as goals of individual workers. Every effort should be
made to see that the organizational work fulfils the worker’s talent and creative potential and leaves
him satisfied with his job. It is the goal of every management to strike a balance between the worker’s
need and those of the organisation.

1.7.4. BUREAUCRATIC THEORY

The term Bureaucracy tends itself to two usages. It refers to the tasks and procedures of
administration. It is also used as a collective word for a body of administrative officials. Frequently, it
stands for inefficiency and an improper exercise of power on the part of officials and thus has become
a term of abuse. For Weber, bureaucracy is meant an administrative body of appointed officials, who
are distinct, and whose work and influence could be seen in all kinds of organisations. Herbert G.
Hicks and C. Ray Gullett describe bureaucracy as denoting "an integrated hierarchy of specialised
offices defined by systematic rules—an impersonal routinised structure wherein legitimatized authority
rests in the office and not in the person of the incumbent".
Bureaucracy as an organizational model was first developed systematically by Max Weber, a
German sociologist. According to him, every organisation can be defined as a structure of activities
(means) directed towards the achievement of certain objectives (ends). To maximize efficiency and
productivity every organisation develops a system of specialization (division of tasks) and a set of
systematic rules and procedures. Weber stressed that the bureaucratic form is capable of attaining the
highest degree of efficiency, and formally, the most rational known means of carrying out control over
human beings in any organisation. It is superior to every other form in precision, stability, discipline
and reliability.
Weber tried to identify the various factors and the conditions that have contributed to the growth
of bureaucracy in modern times. The development of modern large-scale organisations and
corporations has led to the development and considerable spread of bureaucracy in Organisations.
Whatever may be the evils of bureaucracy, it is simply indispensable for the running of complex
administrative structures. Secondly, an important factor responsible for the superiority of bureaucratic
organisations is the role of expanding technical knowledge, and the development of modem
technology. Whether the economic system is capitalistic or socialistic, a considerable degree of
bureaucratic specialization is required to attain a high level of organizational efficiency. Thirdly,
Weber repeatedly stressed the fact that the capitalist system has undeniably played a major role in the
development of modem bureaucracy. The proper functioning of capitalist system necessitates a stable
state and a well organised administration. Besides, capitalism is considered the most rational economic
basis for bureaucratic administration itself.
 According to Max Weber, the ideal bureaucratic organisation, called rational legal bureaucracy
could contain the following elements:—
12. A well-defined hierarchical arrangement of offices, each with its own authority. The
administrative structure of the bureaucracy is like a pyramid with each lower office under the control
of a higher one
13. A division of labour based on functional specialization. The tasks are divided into functionally
distinct spheres, each office or position furnished with the requisite authority and sanctions ;
14. Formalized, written rules of conduct and procedure are to be applied uniformly. These rules
may be either technical or legal. In both cases, trained men are necessary ;
15. Administration is based on written documents and this tends to make the office (bureau) the
hub of the modern organisation.
16. Impersonality in interpersonal relations. Officials are subject to an impersonal order and
formally established norms of conduct. They can act only in accordance with these rules in their
contact with others inside and outside the organisation ;
17. The officials are selected and get promotions through their careers on the basis of their
technical competence, and not on the basis of their social status and partisan loyalties ;
18. The resources of organisation are quite distinct from those of the members as private
individuals ;
19. The office holder cannot appropriate his office
Weber held the view that bureaucratic forms of organisation are more efficient than other systems of
administration. They are able to depersonalize their rules and procedures and, thus, to achieve high
levels of calculability in the decision-making process.

Criticism
The bureaucratic theory of organisation is criticised along several lines. The Marxists attack
Weber from ideological angle and regard his theory as defence of the capitalist domination over
society. They argue that the intentions of his so called "philosophy of history" were "to legitimize
authority or domination and thereby characterise class struggle and civil war as mere power politics.
Weber has been criticised for not paying adequate attention in his theory to human behaviour,
relations, morale and motivational factors. His theory has been called a ‘machine theory’ and a closed
system model over emphasizing the formal rational aspects of bureaucracy while ignoring the whole
range of socio-cultural environment and behavioural characteristics of large formal organisations. R K
Merton has argued that bureaucracy as an organizational form is characterised by rigidity,
overemphasis on rules and regulations rather than on goals, and objectives; and marked by lack of
public relations and class consciousness on the part of bureaucrats. Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph have
argued that the Weberian model is not necessarily the most rational and effective organizational
structure in terms of efficiency. It is argued that Weber’s analysis of bureaucracy is incomplete,
particularly from the view point of behavioural aspects of life within bureaucracies. It is also said that
the hierarchical authority structures and depersonalized procedures of bureaucracy may actually create
conditions which reduce or limit its instrumental capabilities. lt is pointed out that seemingly well
ordered and disciplined formal Structure of bureaucracy hides the reality of pervasive competition for
power and status within the organisations. Thus, bureaucracy is an imperfect tool. It is inappropriate to
the needs of a) highly professionalized workers because of its structure of top-down authority. (b) It
lacks the participative climate required for effectiveness in a science-based civilization because the
traditional bureaucracy is hierarchical, position-oriented and authoritarian in concept, (c) It has been
found inadequate to meet the needs of rapid economic and social development in developing countries
because of its behavioural characteristics.
In the end, it must be said that elements of bureaucracy are found almost universally in modern
organisations if they are more complex than simple face to face relationships. Governments, large
business organisations, universities, religious institutions, political parties, etc. are largely based on
bureaucratic concepts. Although the end of bureaucracy has been predicted, no alternative has been
developed that can bring so well the necessary order to a complex organisation. Bureaucracy has the
most profound effects upon mankind, but it is far from being a perfect approach to organisation. That
is why various modifications (see the chapter on Bureaucracy) like representative bureaucracy,
participatory bureaucracy, balanced bureaucracy, etc. has been suggested to make it more viable.

Conclusion
The bureaucratic theory of organisation has served a useful purpose in history by helping to
develop professionalism in administration by incorporating rationalist ethics and standards of conduct
and business. It helped to evolve a modernist administrative culture from the earlier feudal remnants of
a corrupt, authoritarian and unresponsive administrative ethos based on the spoils and patronage
system. It, therefore, was a progressive and useful model of organisation at one time. Much of the
criticisms of the bureaucratic model generally emanate from Weber’s ideal type constructs; It is
necessary to understand that Weber wanted to construct an “ideal type” or a “pure” model of
bureaucracy which obviously cannot be approximated to reality. Weber was not a champion of the
bureaucratic order; in fact, he was more than sufficiently aware of the evils of “bureaucratization”. He
had merely stated that compared to the then prevailing administrative forms, bureaucracy was more
capable of operating with greater efficiency and rationality.

1.8. VARIOUS APPROACHES TO STUDY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

There are several approaches to the study of Public Administration. They can be categorized as
the philosophical approach, the legal approach, the historical approach, the case method approach, the
institutional and structural approach, the behavioural approach, etc.
1. Philosophical Approach
The philosophical Approach is perhaps the oldest approach to the Public Administration as of all
other social sciences. An example of this approach is found in Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata, other
well-known examples being Plato’s Republic, Hobbes’ Leviathan, and Locke’s Two Treatise of Civil
Government etc. The philosophical approach is wide ranging, taking within its purview all aspects of
administrative activities. Its goal is to find out and enunciate the principles, or ‘ideals’, underlying
these activities.
2. Legal Approach
The legal approach to the study of Public Administration came after the philosophical one, but in
a sense is the oldest, systematically formulated approach and traces its ancestry to the European
tradition of rooting Public Administration in law. Those who have adopted this approach to the study
of Public Administration as part of law and concentrate on the legally prescribed structure and
organization of public authorities. This approach was formulated at a period when the functions of the
State were narrowly limited and simple in nature.
3. Historical Approach
The Historical Approach to the Study of Public Administration seeks to recreate a segment of
history; it studies the public administration of the past within particular time spans, organizing and
interpreting the information in a chronological order. The historical approach naturally commands a
powerful attraction in a society having a rich past and can be very valuable in identifying the
uniqueness of the administrative system. Indeed, many administrative institutions can be best
understood in the light of their past, which is possible by adopting the historical approach. We, for
instance, cannot understand the Indian National Congress, founded as early as 1885, without studying
its historical development.
4. The Case Method Approach
The case method approach to the study of Public Administration began to be popularized in the
’thirties. A case is a narration of what has actually taken place in administration, keeping intact the
context and all relevant dimensions. Ably handled, the case method approach is a sensitive one,
seeking as it does to reconstruct the administrative realities, and give to students a favour of the
administrative process. As Dwight Waldo says, “The case approach has been motivated by a
commitment of the objectives and methods of the social sciences, to be sure, but it has been shaped
also by a considerable sensitivity to traditional concerns of the humanities and by a practical interest in
pedagogy as against research.” The case method has come to stay in Public Administration, but it
cannot perhaps become the dominant approach. In India, this method of study is becoming a bit too
popular therefore, it is necessary to be aware of its limitations. In the first place, reliving another
person's life through case studies never (succeeds. Secondly, the most significant part of a decision is
the agony of it; one cannot relive the agony and anxiety, and put himself in another individual's
position.
5. Institutional-Structural Approach
While scholars trained in law have adopted the legal approach to the study Public
Administration, others were content to describe the organization and functions of public organizations.
It must be emphasized here that the description of organizations was formal, i.e., in terms of what they
were designed to be like. The greatest limitation of this approach is that one cannot get a true picture of
how an organization functions in practice.
6. Behavioural Approach
The growing discontentment against the institutional-structural approach crystallized into what
has come to be called the behavioural approach to the study of Public Administration. This approach,
which dates back to the forties, focuses on the actual behaviour of persons and groups in organizations.
Herbert A. Simon and Robert A. Dahl have been among the pioneers of this approach to the study of
Public Administration.
No single approach may be sufficient in itself and adequate enough to answer the call of
scholarship. Public Administration can, thus, stand to benefit from a mix of approaches. It must be
remembered that these approaches do not stand in dichotomous relationship with each other. On the
contrary, they are complementary to each other. While each approach has its uses and relevance
depending upon the focus of a study, the real test is the capacity of the scholar to choose the
appropriate approaches and, what is more, extract the best out of them. Many scholars in India
sometimes give an impression of treating an approach as substitute for scholarship, which is a pathetic
belief. It is true that certain fields of study lend themselves more adequately to one approach than to
some others; the academically sound work is the product of how dexterously a scholar can utilize all
the approaches having a bearing on his subject.

Question
1. Define Public Administration and examine its scope.
2. Discuss the contributions of Elton Mayo’s Human Relation approach.
3. Examine the contributions and limitations of F. W. Taylor’s Scientific Management.
4. Discuss the significance of Public Administration.
 UNIT- 2
STRUCTURE AND BASES OF ORGANISATION, LINE AND STAFF, CHIEF EXECUTIVE,
PUBLIC CORPORATIONS AND DELEGATED LEGISLATION

Meaning and definition

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines the word ‘to organise’ as ‘to frame and to put into
working order’. The term ‘Organisation’ lends itself to three meanings: a) the act of designing the
administrative structure; b) both designing and building the structure; and c) the structure itself. It is
the method of dividing the work. The term is based on two conditions. They are, first, a job is to be
done; and second, division of work becomes essential if a group of persons is engaged in
accomplishing the job. Organisation refers to a plan of action to ensure fulfillment of purpose or
purposes which a group of individuals has set for realization and towards the attainment of which they
are collectively bending their energies. Precisely, organisation means ‘designing the structure’.
Organisation has been defined in different ways by different people. Here are some of the
important definitions:
According to Gladden, “Organisation is concerned with pattern of relationships between persons in an
enterprise, so constructed as to fulfill the enterpriser’s function.”
“By organisation”, remarked Simon, “we mean a planned system of cooperative effort, in which each
participant has a recognised role to play, duties and tasks to perform.”
To Mooney, “Organisation is the form of every human association for the attainment of a common
purpose.”
To White, “Organisation is the arrangement of personnel for facilitating the accomplishment of some
agreed purpose through allocation of function and responsibilities.”
In the words of Urwick, “Organisation is determining what activities are necessary to any purpose and
arranging them in groups, which may be assigned to individuals.”
According to Morstein, “Organisation is structure developed for carrying out the tasks entrusted to
chief executive and his administrative subordinate in the government.”
In the words of JD Mooney, “Organisation is the form of human association for attainment of common
purpose.”

2.1. Organizational Structure and Bases of Organization

An Organizational Structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and
supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. It can also be
considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organization and its
environment. Many organizations have hierarchical structures, but not all. Depending on their
objectives, an organization can be structured in many different ways. The structure of an organization
determines the modes in which it operates and performs. Organizational structure allows the expressed
allocation of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different entities such as the
branch, department, workgroup and individual. The functioning of an organisation depends upon the
formulation of policy, preparation of plans in accordance with the policy and their implementation. In
an organisation, the top management is responsible for policy formulation, the middle management is
responsible for policy formulation, the middle management for programming and planning and the
rank and the file for implementation. The principle of hierarchy ensures that the rank and the life is
accountable to middle management, the middle management is accountable to the top management.
Thus, superior-subordinate relationship made possible, through hierarchy ensures the task is assigned
and responsibilities are fixed for different levels that facilitate the smooth achievements of goals. Thus,
organisation is not merely a structure. It embraces structure as well as the human beings who run it in
order to realise the preconceived objective. Therefore, organisational theory must also be basically
human.
 Organizational structure affects organizational action in two big ways. First, it provides the
foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest. Second, it determines which
individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to what extent their views
shape the organization’s actions. The set organizational structure may not coincide with facts, evolving
in operational action. Such divergence decreases performance, when growing. E.g. a wrong
organizational structure may hamper cooperation and thus hinder the completion of orders in due time
and within limits of resources and budgets. Organizational structures shall be adaptive to process
requirements, aiming to optimize the ratio of effort and input to output.
In the 21st century, organizational theorists such as Lim, Griffiths and Sambrook are proposing
that organizational structure development is very much dependent on the expression of the strategies
and behaviour of the management and the workers as constrained by the power distribution between
them, and influenced by their environment and the outcome.
Aristotle had suggested two alternatives of the bases of organization, namely division of work
according to persons or classes, and division of work according to the services to be rendered. These
alternatives were also adopted by the Haldane Committee on the Machinery of Government (1918).
Though the Haldane Committee Report recognized two principles for allocation of work, a study of
organization reveals four different bases for organizations: Function or purpose, Process, Clientele,
and Area. Luther Gulick calls these: purpose, process, person and place (the four P’s) as the bases of
organization.
1. Purpose: It means the major objective to be aimed at or major service to be performed. Functional
division of work is very common, and is regarded by many as the only efficient method. Purpose is
important because it describes the objectives of the organisation. Take any example of governmental
activity, agriculture, education, health, they are organised upon purpose. Purpose of Education
Department is to impart education evenly, looking into level of education and raise the standard of
education in the fields. Every department has several purposes to serve and these are providing
services to people.
Merits of Purpose
a. There is less possibility for duplication of work in department that is organised on the basis of
‘purpose’ because work is divided to each unit.
b. It facilitates the good evaluation of work in the organisation.
Demerits of Purpose
a. There is no uniform explanation for work meanings that are given to different work, and that
becomes the object of confusion to personnel.
b. It is also noticed that some of the aspects of works are neglected.
c. It becomes difficult to coordinate.

2. Process: Process is identified with a technique, profession, or skill of a somewhat specialized type,
though it is to be admitted that it is not quite easy to differentiate between process and function.
Ministry of Law in India manifests this principle. Generally speaking, process or profession is found as
basis of Staff organization rather than of Link organization.
Merits of Process
a. Process ensures specialization in the organisation. There are several functions like medical and
engineering, where technical knowledge is used. This makes utmost use of technical knowledge
possible and increases specialization. Only those agencies are organised on the bases of purpose
where technical services are rendered.
b. The departments organised on the basis of process are economical in their activities. These use
techniques to get the work done on same processes.
c. It also leads to coordination because it yields better results.
d. Such organisation provides easy way to collect data on price evaluation and unit value. Thus, data
collection becomes simple.
Demerits of Process
1. Its use is very limited because this form cannot be used for non-technical activities.
2. It is criticised that such organisation rely more on the means rather than ends. That is why the result
orientation becomes severely affected.
3. It is also criticised for developing professional arrogance and conflicts.

3. Clientele: A clientele organization refers to all or most of the needs of the group served. The
Department of Rehabilitation at the Centre and the Department of Tribal Welfare in some states in
India have been formed on this principle. Also, the office of Indian Affairs and Veterans’
Administration in the United States are the examples of clientele being the basis of organization. There
is a possible justification for creating client-based organizations. Some groups in the community have
distinctive problems, so special as to differentiate them from the rest of the community. They need to
be differently dealt with, hence, separate departments for them. Hence, a separate Ministry of
Rehabilitation was formed. A clientele organisation generally caters to all or most of the needs of the
groups served.
Merits of Persons as Basis of Organisation
a. It makes one agency responsible for all the needs of a group.
b. It can also facilitate coordination of different services provided for beneficiaries.
c. It helps in maintaining cooperation between public and administration.
Demerits of Persons
a. It may lead to jurisdictional disputes between departments.
b. It violates the principle of specialization due to multi-functional character.
c. It increases the impact of pressure groups on the organisation.

4. Place or Territory: It means the place where a job is done, may be the basis of organization.
Underlying this principle is the belief that a region may have problems peculiar to itself, lending it a
distinctive character, and thereby favouring a separate handling or treatment. For instance, the' now
defunct North East Frontier Agency in India indicates the adoption of this basis of organization. Also,
at one level or another, most departments have their operating units organized on the area or territorial
basis. The Ministry of Railways, thus, has over ten territorial zones in India. Zonal Councils, too, have
been organized on this principle.
Merit of Place
a. It facilities coordination of different services in any specified area.
b. National policies can adopt themselves according to new areas and their needs.
c. It is fit for cases in long distances where communication is difficult.
d. It is quite economical.
Demerits of Place
a. It acts counter to uniformity in administration.
b. It helps localism at the cost of national outlook and solidarity.
There is a great vagueness in the meaning and implications of these four bases of organisation.
No definite answer can be given to the question as to which factor is more important as a basis of
organisation. It is a question of convenience alone.

2.2. LINE AND STAFF AGENCIES

2.2.1. LINE AGENCIES
 The governmental administration of a country is divided into many major units known as
departments. They are known as ‘Line’ departments, because they are concerned with the fulfillment
of the primary purpose for which governments exist. These major departments or agencies are
organized on the basis of major substantive purposes of the government. The ‘Line’ departments
perform services for, or regulate the conduct of individuals. It is which the line agencies that the
ordinary citizen comes into contact and it is they, which constitute the kernel of administration.
Important Line departments of the Government of India are the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs,
Railways, etc.

2.2.1.1.Features of line agencies:

Line agencies are those administrative units or organizations, which are directly carrying out the
major primary functions of the govt. In order to understand the concept of line units more clearly let us
see what their salient features are.
1) Primary objectives of line agency
Firstly, line agencies units are carrying out the major, primary or substantive objectives for which an
organization is established. E.g., imparting education through teaching is the major function for which
any university is established. Teaching departments are directly carrying out the objective and
therefore, they are the line units of a university. But accounts department, examination department or
library are not directly teaching or imparting education and therefore they may be termed as staff or
auxiliary units and not line units.
2) Authority to make decisions
Secondly, line units have the power and authority to make decisions, issue orders and control, direct
and demand the administrators under them. They are in one chain of command. E.g., in the police
department right from the inspector general of police to the police constable all are involved directly,
which the maintenance of law and order.
They are all in one line of command. But the police training college is not a line unit because, it is
outside the line of command and therefore, it is a staff unit of the home department.
3) Responsible for execution of government programmes
Thirdly, line units are responsible for the execution of government policies and implementation of
programmes sanctioned by the legislative or executive authorities; entire policy execution is finally
their responsibility. They make decisions, issue order and command and direct administration.
4) Indirectly in contact with people
Fourthly, line agency directly deal with the people, come into contact with the citizens and provide
them the services e.g., a teacher teaches the stude4nys, a policeman protects the citizens, a doctor looks
after the health of the citizens, etc. similarly, in the government , the education department, health
department or agriculture department directly provides services to the concerned people.
5) Directly under the control of the chief executive
Fifthly, line agencies are directly under the line of control and supervision of the chief executive. They
are also responsible to the chief executive and to the legislature, e.g., head of a government department
is a minister, who is directly responsible to the prime minister and also to the parliament. Similarly, the
board of directors of public corporations is directly responsible to the government and parliament.

2.2.2. STAFF AGENCIES

The Staff concept has been borrowed from military administration. In its common use, the term
staff means a stick carried for support or defense. In ordinary speech, staff also refers to the whole
body of employees of an organization. It its technical sense, the term ‘staff’ is used in administration to
denote an organ or agency that advices the executive without having operational responsibilities.
Staff agencies are concerned with advisory, research, planning, specialist and facilitating
activities, which are supportive of the line agencies. The staff people simply help the line officials in
accomplishing the primary goals of administration. They serve, assist and advise the line units without
giving orders. Just as a stick supports a man in walking, the staff units in administration are there to
support the line agencies with specialized information and wise counsel. Staff units are not concerned
with executive action and therefore, have no independent authority to act or take decision. Staff
persons are specialists and advisors of one kind or another. They work under the control of the chief
executive. They are not a part of the line hierarch, but collateral to it. They are usually formed on the
basis of process. The personnel, finance, legal and accounting unit of an organization are some of the
examples of staff agencies. The employees of such units are most accurately referred to as the staff.
Therefore, the staff covers certain types of organizational personnel and not others.

2.2.2.1.Kinds of staff
According to Pfiffner there are three kinds of staff service and units- general staff, technical staff
and auxiliary staff. The general staff is the staff which helps the chief or other highly placed executive
in the administrative work generally by advice, collection of information, research, and the shifting of
the important from unimportant business which is to go up to him. An officer of the general staff is a
person of administrative training and experience rather than a specialist in some technical field. To
Pfiffner, the general staff acts as a filter and funnel to the chief executive. Like a funnel it receives the
business intended for him but like a filter it allows only what is essential to go up to him, keeping back
the less important details. In India, the general staff of the Chief Executive consists of the following
agencies: (1) The Cabinet Secretariat, (2) The Prime Minister’s Secretariat, (3) The Cabinet
Committees, (4) The Planning Commission, (5) The budget and Economic Affairs Department in the
Finance Ministry, which helps the Chief Executive in the performance of his budgetary duties, e.g., the
preparation of the Budget, and (6) The Administrative Vigilance Division in the Ministry of Home
Affairs. Technical staff consists of the technical officers of the headquarters staff i.e., engineers,
doctors, financial and business experts etc. they advise the chief in technical matters of their field and
also keep functional supervision over the work of the technicians of the line in their own appropriate
fields. Auxiliary staff consists of officers or units which performs certain duties and functions common
to the various administrative departments but which are incidental in character, i.e., not directly a part
of those department’s main activity. Every department requires purchase of stores of various kinds,
printing of papers and reports, recruitment of the personnel, finance, accounting etc. Willoughby calls
these ‘institutional’ or house-keeping activities while White refers to them as ‘Auxiliary Services’. The
departments communicate their requirements to this agency which pools them together and makes the
necessary arrangements for their fulfillment.
The chief difficulty in calling those ’auxiliary’ units as staff units is that often they are given
powers of scrutiny and control over the demands of the departments they are supposed to serve. As a
matter of theory proper function is ‘advice and assistance’. Auxiliary units advise and assist and also
control. They appear to fall somewhere midway between the line and staff, and should, therefore, be
treated as a separate category.

2.2.2.2.Functions of the staff:

1) Assistance function: the most important function of the staff agencies is to assist, help and support
the chief executive and other line agencies in carrying out their work. They work on behalf of the chief
executives and reduce their burden, relieve them from the routine matters and save their energy and
time for important matters. These staff agencies work as additional ears, eyes and hands of the chief
executive. They serve as the ‘filter and funnel’ for them. They issue press notes, write letters, maintain
diaries, channel visitors and perform several other functions to help the executive.
2) Information function: another important function of the staff is to provide to the line agencies all
relevant information, necessary for making decisions. Staff has to collect, preserve and provide up-to-
date information and data. Collection of information involves research, study, enquiry and surveys, etc.
The information collected has to be digested, summarized and presented to the concerned “line” officer
in a suitable form. Suitable and relevant statistical data has also to be kept up-to-date and supplied.
Whenever required, Bureau of statistics, establishment unit, O and M division are engaged in this type
of function.
3) Advisory function: the staff also has to advise the chief executive and line agencies. They have to
place their opinion before the minister or chief executive. This advice may be accepted or rejected by
the concerned ‘line’ officer. But consultation and counsel of the ‘staff’ is taken before making a final
decision. Secretary of the department gives his advice and counsel to his minister. On matters of p-
planning, the planning commission gives advice to the government. Advising and consultation are the
important functions of all ‘staff’ agencies.
4) Supervisory functions: once a decision is taken by the chief executive, it is the function of the
‘staff’ to communicate it to the other related line agencies and to see that the decision is implemented
by them. The staffs units have to explain the decision, remove the difficulties in its implementation and
supervise their work, maintain contacts with all related agencies and help the chief executive in his
task. The Cabinet Secretariat performs this supervisory function in India.
5) Delegated functions: sometimes, the chief executive delegates some authority to a staff agency. In
that case, that staff agency performs delegated function on behalf of the chief executive within clear
and defined limits. E.g., a press secretary of the Prime Minister, issues press notes on behalf of the
Prime Minister or the Bureau of Budget prepares the budget on behalf of the American President or the
Union Public Service Commission conducts the competitive examinations for the recruitment of the
civil servants, on behalf of the government of India.
In spite of the great necessity and usefulness to the ‘Staff’, it cannot do two things. First, it
cannot issue commands of its own. Issuing of commands is the function of the administrator or the
Line Departments. Secondly, it is not meant to execute policies. It is only to help in the formulation of
policies. It only plans, advises, suggests, assists and prepares the Line Departments to act.

CONCLUSION
When it is said that there are two kinds of units in the administration, one line and the other staff,
does not imply that government departments are designated in this way. A Line department may be
performing a staff function or vice versa. The distinction made by these designations is that there are
broadly speaking two kinds of activities which different government departments are called upon to
perform. One is execution which is performed by line units; the other is advisory which is performed
by staff units. Even this broad distinction has to be accepted with certain reservations.
The Planning Commission in India is a staff agency and is supposed to be advisory only. But in
actual practice, there is a growing feeling that it is an authority to be reckoned with. It decides the
programme of work and its decisions are to be carried out by all. Thus, in practice, staff agencies also
exercise authority over the Line departments. The staff agencies performing the work of personnel,
budgeting and finance, supply and planning, exercise great authority over the line agencies. The line
agencies accept the decisions of the central recruiting agencies in matters of recruitment of personnel.
Such examples can be multiplied. The staff agencies are not purely advisory: they also exercise
authority and, on many occasions, the Line units have no alternative but to bow their commands.

2.3. THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Chief executive is the person or body of persons at the head of the administrative system. The
administrative hierarchy resembles a pyramid, broad at the base and tampering towards the top till it
ends at a single point, the apex. The chief executive is the apex of the administrative pyramid. In India,
the President (or realistically the cabinet) is the chief executive of the Union and the governors, of the
state. In Britain the monarch is the executive, in U.S.A. the president and in Switzerland the Federal
Council. It should be noted that every level of government has its chief executive.

2.3.1. Types of executive:

1. Titular and real executive: in the parliamentary form of government, a distinction has to be
made between the titular/nominal chief executive and the real chief executive. In this form of
government, the titular/nominal chief executive exercise his powers only on the advice of the ministers
and not independently. The legal powers of the titular executive are, in reality, exercised by the cabinet
or the ministers which thus becomes the real chief executive. The president of India and the queen of
England are the titular chief of this type. In both the countries, the real executive is the cabinet headed
by the prime minister. In countries like the U.S.A. where the Presidential form of government prevails,
the position is different. They have no titular or nominal executive. There is only the president who is
the real chief executive, and the powers legally vested in him are exercised by him personally and
independently. He is under no legal obligation to act on the advice of anyone else.
2. The parliamentary and the presidential types of chief executive: taking into consideration only
the real chief executive under the parliamentary and the presidential forms of government, we find a
number of crucial points of differences between them.
a) First, the real chief executive in the parliamentary countries is a plural body, the cabinet, which
consists of a prime minister and a number of other ministers, while in the presidential countries, the
chief executive, the president, is a single individual. It is true that in the U.S.A. also the president has
secretaries, in-charge of the twelve great administrative departments but their status in materially
different from that of the cabinet ministers. They are the subordinates of the president to whom they
are individually responsible and who can dismiss them at will. The cabinet ministers, on the other
hand, are colleagues of the prime minister and influential members of the party in power and of
parliament, so that the prime minister cannot lightly offend or overrule them without the risk of a split
in the party and the possibility of loss of office.
What does this difference imply in terms of administration? It implies two things. The cabinet
with its plural composition is less troubled with the problem of the ‘span of control’ than an individual
head like the president. With trusted colleagues of the same party, 20 or 22 in number, the task of even
the higher level initiative, supervision, and control, gets distributed among them, and comparatively
few problems need to go to the prime minister. It also makes a difference in the psychological attitude
of the people towards administration. The bogey of possible dictatorship of single individual is less
easy to rise in a parliamentary country than in a presidential one. The people know that even the
strongest prime minister cannot have things entirely his own way.
b) The second crucial difference between the two types is related to the legislative-executive
relationship. Under the parliamentary type the members of the chief executive body, the Cabinet, are
drawn from among the members of the majority party in the legislature. They sit in the parliament,
lead it, initiate and pilot legislation and the budget, and assume responsibility before parliament for the
entire administration. Technically the parliament can turn them out of office at any time when they
lose its confidence. Thus under the parliamentary type there is close collaboration between the
legislature and the executive and the latter by virtue of it legislative leadership is in position to carry
through whatever legislative, financial or administrative policy it thinks to be necessary. In a
presidential country like the U.S.A. on the other hand, there is separation of powers and a system of
checks and balances. The president is elected for a fixed term of 4 years during which he cannot be
removed except by impeachment. Neither he nor his secretaries can sit in the legislature or participate
in its proceedings. They are not responsible to the congress. The consequence is that legislative-
executive relations are difficult. To get the necessary legislation and the financial provision for its
policies from the congress, the executive has to resort to indirect and often back-door methods, and
even then, sometimes it does not succeed.
c) The third difference between the two types is that the parliamentary executive is continuously and
more or less effectively responsible to the legislature for all its policies and acts while the presidential
executive owes no such responsibility to the legislature. In theory, it is responsible to the people, but
there is no effective way of enforcing this responsibility. The result is a certain amount of distrust of
the executive on the part of the legislature and the people and unwillingness to grant it additional
functions and powers even where necessary. In the U.S.A. it is this which is mainly responsible for the
creation of agencies like the independent regulatory commissions which are free from the president’s
control. It is also shown by the refusal of the congress to grant to the president the power to reorganize
the executive branch of the government, except on a temporary and restricted scale. The
Reorganization Acts of 1939 and 1945 were both hedged in by numerous limitations and restrictions.
This may be contrasted with the Ministers of Crown (Transfer of Functions) Act, 1946, in Britain
which empowered the executive to dissolve a department and transfer its functions elsewhere of to
transfer functions between departments as found necessary. In India the reorganization of ministers
and department is entirely left to be determined by rules of business made by the president at the centre
and the governors in the states. In these and numerous other matters, the executive in the parliamentary
countries has a freer scope because the parliament and the people know that it is subject to their
continuous control and cannot turn autocratic.
It would of course be incorrect to think that the executive in presidential countries is left
uncontrolled or is his own master or conversely that in parliamentary countries the cabinet is subject
to9 dictation by parliament in matters of detail. The president in the U.S.A. is subject to considerable
pressure from the congress exerted through legislation, voting of supplies, and confirmation of
appointments, approval of treaties, and investigations and enquiries, which are constantly being made
by the committees of the Senate or the House of the Representatives. The technique of this pressure is,
however considerably different from that of the legislature over the executive in parliamentary
countries. Briefly speaking, we may say that the congress in the U.S.A. controls the executive by
legislatively regulating the details of the governmental organization, procedures and expenditure while
in a parliamentary country it has general power of dislodging the government of the day, and being
conscious of that ultimate power, it is content to accept the leadership of the executive and leave it
unhampered in matters of detail. In so far as legislative regulation of details results in the rigidity of
arrangements and undue circumscribing of the executive discretion in matters where it ought to be
allowed, we may say that a parliamentary executive is more adequately equipped with means of
meeting its responsibilities than the presidential type.
3. The collegial executive: collegial is another type of executive. It is practiced in Switzerland. This
type of executive is a mixture of some of the basic principles of the parliamentary and the presidential
types. Like the parliamentary, it is a plural body consisting of 7 members. It is truly collegial because
there is nobody like the prime minister holding a position of primacy. All its members are truly equal
in rank. These members have seats in the legislature, participate in its proceedings and even lead it,
though they have no right to vote. They are also responsible to the legislature. These are the points of
similarity between the Swiss executive and the Cabinet. But unlike the members of the cabinet and like
the U.S. president, the Swiss executive- the Federal Council- is elected for a fixed term. They cannot
be removed during that period. The responsibility of the members of the Swiss executive to the
legislature does not entail their resignation when the latter disapproves of their policy. The merely
change that policy in accordance with the wishes of the legislature and continued term after term, for
many years. Again, just like the presidential executive the Swiss Federal Council has no power to
dissolve the legislature and appeal to the people. Under the Swiss system, thus, the main advantage,
the parliamentary type-close executive-legislative collaboration and responsibility, and the principle
merit of the presidential system, fixity of tenure, are both secured while the disadvantage of both are
eliminated. This would appear to be the ideal arrangement, but it is unrealizable in other countries
where the special condition of its success which characterize Switzerland does not exist.

2.3.2. Powers and Functions of Chief Executive

The chief executive of whatever type has a dual role to play. He is the political leader as well as
the administrative head. His functions are, therefore, both political and administrative. As the driver of
an automobile has firstly to see that there is enough petrol in tank of his vehicle to generate the
necessary motive power, and secondly, to use that power for driving the car to the destination, so the
chief executive also must, first ensure and produce the necessary amount of political support and
power to enable his administration to move, and secondly, he must direct it into the right channels for
the attainment of the objects in view.
1. Political function of the chief executive:
The source of political power under democracy is primarily the people and secondarily the legislature
which is the representative body of the people. The chief executive obtains his office by the majority
support which he or his party secures through the votes of the people, and for executive discharge of
the duties of his office and smooth functioning of the administration; he needs the necessary legislation
and the funds which the legislature alone has the power to grant. Therefore the chief executive must
continuously strive to win and keep the support of the legislature and the electorate by doing what they
want and avoiding what they do not want. The chief executive is not, however, merely an instrument
for registering and executing the will of the people and the legislature. They may want things which
should not be done, or may not wait what, in the best interest of the country, should be done. He has,
therefore, not merely to follow but also to lead. Indeed, the latter function is more important in the
complex conditions of today. The chief executive leads by putting forth before the legislature and the
people, the policies and the programs which in his opinion would best serve the nation and by
obtaining the necessary support for them by all the resources at his disposal- his eloquence, character,
social contacts, publicity etc. He must constantly keep his fingers on the pulse of the legislature and the
country to watch its trend, react quickly to every unfavorable symptom, and take the necessary steps to
counteract it. The parliamentary type of executive would itself swept out of office in no time if it failed
to do so, and even the President of U.S.A., though secure an office for its term, would find his
administration hampered and discredited unless he is politically alert and influential. Thus political
management is the first function of the chief executive.
2. Administrative function of the chief executive:
The chief executive as the head of the administration has the administrative duties. The first and the
foremost of these functions is the formulation of the administrative policies- what shall be done by his
administration and how. It should be noted that policy formulation has to be done in several stages and
at the various levels of the hierarchy. No policy can be formulated, complete in all the bearings and
details, at a single stroke. At the political and the legislative level, only the general outline of the policy
can be laid down. The initiative of it may come from the chief executive or the legislature itself.
Whatever its sources or origin, it requires to be cleared with (or passed by) the legislature, and usually
takes the form of a law. For example, the executive may propose and the legislature may pass a law to
the effect that the recruitment to the public services shall be by merit. This is primary policy. It does
not contain all the details required for its application. The secondary policy is when implementation of
the policy is to begin, through what agency it is to be carried out, how exactly merit will be
determined, whether it should be determined through the same or different tests for the various kinds
of posts, whether any posts should be excluded from the purview of the merit system etc, are supplied
by the chief executive. Many other details of a more minute character may have to be supplied at the
lower levels as the policy passes through them in the course of its execution. Thus, policy is like a
snow-ball rolling down a snow-clad hill, gathering mass and momentum at every step of its progress
downward. Each of the levels of the administrative hierarchy contributes something to it and thus may
be said to participate in its formulation. The chief executive naturally has the largest share of all, in this
function. The second important administrative function of the chief executive is planning. Planning is
preparation for any action, whatever. As such conscious or unconscious planning precedes every
action. Policy formulation itself is a kind of planning. Its implementation too involves planning.
Thirdly, the chief executive has to sanction and authorize the details of the organization through which
his plans are to be carried out and administration is to function. New departments, bureaus, divisions,
etc., may have to be created for the new purposes undertaken, and the old ones may have to be
reorganized or overhauled to ensure their more efficient functioning. Fourthly, the chief executive has
the power to appoint and remove the personnel. The fifth duty of the chief executive is to direct
administration through rules, regulations, or orders of specific application. Sixthly, the chief executive
is responsible for the supervision and control of the entire administration. This is done to ensure that
each individual in the organization does his work diligently and according to the plan or policy laid
down. Seventhly, the chief executive has the power to order investigations and enquiries whenever
necessary, either to collect information or to remove complaints. Enquiries help in the removal of
malpractices and defects. Eighthly, co-ordination is one of the most important functions of the chief
executive. Conflicts and differences with the organization, if they cannot be harmonized at the lower
levels, have to be resolved in the last resort, by the chief executive who has the highest authority to do
so. Finally, the chief executive has to manage the public relations of his organizations.
Thus, planning, organization, staffing, directing etc., summed up in the word ‘POSDCORB’ are the
principle functions of the chief executive.

2.3.3. Qualities needed for a successful Executive

1) Strength and balance of personality: strength implies intelligence, firmness of purpose, continuous
interest in the work, and energy. Without these he would fail to make his mark. Balance may be
described as the quality that induces people to repose trust in him and his judgment e.g., undue
enthusiasm, unwillingness to face unpleasantness or fear of giving offence to any one etc.
2) The second requisite is the quality of leadership. Good leaders possess two traits in common. They
identify themselves perfectly with the objective in view. This is the source of the enthusiasm they
experienced and are able to transmit to others. Also, they have an attitude of generosity towards those
working under them and usually overstate rather than understate the merits and good work of their
subordinates. Another element of leadership is a talent for ideas and the power to express them lucidly
and eloquently in speech or writing. All great leaders have been men of ideas. This quality enables
them to find solution of problems in hand, and to lay down the objectives and goals to which people
are to be led.
Finally, there must be administrative ability in the successful executive. According to Pfiffner,
the essence of this quality is to get things done well and economically by others. The good
administrator is a person endowed with the capacity to plan big projects, to create the necessary
organization for it to keep that organization working smoothly and efficiently, and to achieve the
objective within the limits of the funds, materials, personnel and the time allotted for the purpose.

2.4. PUBLIC CORPORATIONS

Meaning and Definition
A ‘Public Corporation’ is a form of public enterprises which is outside the framework of
government departments and company laws. It is specially designed to meet the specific need of a
government enterprise. It has been described by Prof. W. A. Robson as “the most important
constitutional innovation in political organization and constitutional practice of a century.” This
system arose in the periods of crisis in order to meet certain emergencies that were created by the
Great War and the Great Economic Depression.
It arose, as Mr. T. H. O’ Brien remarks, “due more to accident and the spirit of compromise than
to any general parliamentary faith in, or application of the working nature of this type of institution.”
Herbert Morrison defines a Public Corporation as “a combination of public ownership, public
accountability and business management for public ends.”
Prof. Dimock defined Public Corporation “as a publicly owned enterprise that has been chartered
under federal state or local law for a particular business of financial purpose.”
In the words of Ernest Davie, “The Public corporation is a corporate body created by public authority
with defined powers and functions and financially independent.”
Prof. Shukla describes, “Public Corporation is a corporate body created by legislature, with defined
powers and functions and financially independent having a clear-cut jurisdiction over a specified area
or a particular type of commercial activity.”
In short, Public Corporation is an autonomous body, directly accountable to the parliament or
state legislatures with autonomy in its managerial functions. It is a corporate judicial person capable of
acting in its own name. It is an adaptation of the joint stock company system for public purposes. It is
normally established when government undertakes business industries or commerce. A public
corporation is owned by the government. Its management is like a private corporation. Only difference
is that a private corporation is owned by private shareholders whereas public corporations are owned
by the government. In private corporations, money is invested by shareholders and individuals, but the
management is done by the board of directors, who are elected by the share holders. The responsibility
of the board is to manage the corporation effectively, make day-to-day decisions and earn profits for
the shareholders.
Public corporations first came into existence in England and then they were established in other
European countries. When govt. of India nationalized life insurance business, it established the Life
Insurance Corporation. Similarly, Indian Airlines Corporation, Food Corporation of India, Damodar
Valley Corporation, Industrial Finance Corporation, Central Warehousing Corporation and a number
of other corporations were established. State governments have also established corporations for a
number of activities like Road Transport, Industrial Development, Electricity Supply, Development of
Tribes and backward classes and backward regions, etc. e.g., in Maharashtra, there are as many as 27
public corporations, they are established from time to time by the state govt.

2.4.1. Features of public corporations

1) Ownership of government: public corporations are owned by the govt., which invests money and
established them for some specific purpose. Money invested in public corporation is public money.
That is why they are called ‘public corporations’.
2) Management by board: each public corporation is managed by a board of directors. The
chairman and the members of the board are appointed by the government. The board is responsible for
the day-to-day management of the corporation. It makes the routine decisions and implements those
decisions. It has autonomy in the day-to-day administration, but the board policy directions are given
by the government from time to time. Board has freedom within those broad policy directives. It has to
submit annual reports, audited accounts, etc. to the government. Board is thus, responsible to the
government and parliament.
3) Separate Legal entity: public corporations are established by law or statute that is passed by the
Parliament or the legislature. The purpose of the corporation, composition of the board of directors,
their numbers, tenure, powers and responsibilities, etc. are all laid down in the law. It is necessary to
amend the law in order to make any change in them. Each corporation has a separate law and is
governed strictly by the provisions of that law.
4) Corporate Status: each public corporation has a corporate status. It means, in the eyes of law, a
corporation has a status like an individual. It can hold and disposed of property. It can enter into
contract with any other agency or person. It can sue anybody and can be sued by anybody.
Although, a public corporation is an administrative agency of the govt., but in the eyes of law, it has an
independent status like a citizen. This is called corporate status of the public corporation. Because of
this a corporation owns property in its own name and not in the name of the government. In courts, a
case can be filed against the corporation and not against the government.
5) Created for Specific purpose: each public corporation is established by a separate law for some
specific purpose. It cannot do anything else. It is limited by the law. E.g., Life Insurance Corporation
(LIC) can take the insurance of the life of an individual, but cannot undertake the insurance of property
or vehicles, etc. the LIC Act itself prevents it from doing so.
6) Financial Autonomy: A public corporation has autonomy in the financial matters but in a limited
sphere. It can raise funds, invest them in the manner in which it wants, purchase and sell goods and
property, make contracts etc. It has autonomy in matters like expenditure, accounting, budgeting,
audit, etc. Govt. laws and rules are not applicable to public corporations. But board policies of the
govt. are binding on them in this matter.
7) Recruitment: the servants of the public corporation are not civil servants. They are recruited by
the corporation and not by the Public Service Commissions. Their pay scale and conditions of service
are different from those of the govt. servants. They however, have to follow certain broad policy
guidelines such as ‘reservation policy’, issued by the government. Otherwise, public corporations
enjoy freedom in matter of personnel (staff).
8) Autonomy: public corporations are managed by a board of directors which has autonomy in day-
to-day management. Government does not interfere in daily routine matters of management. It issues
only some policy guidelines.
9) Accountability: public corporations are accountable and responsible to the government. They
have to work according to policy guidelines given by the govt. from time to time. They have to submit
the annual report and other documents to the government.
10) Responsibility: public corporations are created by law. They have to work according to the
provisions of the law. There are discussions on the working of these corporations in the parliament.
Members of Parliament may ask questions about them and the concerned minister has to give answers
to them.

2.4.2. Evaluation
The principal benefits of the Public Corporation as an organizational device are its freedom from
unsuitable government regulations and controls, and its high degree of operating and financial
flexibility. In this form, one discerns a balance between the autonomy and flexibility enjoyed by
private enterprise and the responsibility of the public as represented by elected members and
legislators. In the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Public Corporation is clothed with the
power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a Private enterprise. However,
this form, in its turn, has given rise to other problems, namely, the difficulty of reconciling autonomy
of the corporation with the public accountability. That the Public Corporations cannot be made
immune from ministerial control and direction is universally conceded. But how to do it without
infringing their autonomy is a dilemma defying solution. The theory of corporate autonomy has come
into direct conflict with the urgent need for bringing the operations of these Corporations into harmony
with related actions of the government. Thus, it is difficult to maintain a balance between autonomy
and control. Moreover, “Public Corporations do not function in a political vacuum. Removal from the
so-called political pressures may mean, in fact, that the significant political power is being placed in
the hands of a small unrepresentative, and, in extreme cases, possibly even a self-perpetuating group
controlling the Public Corporations.”

2.5. DELEGATED LEGISLATION

Introduction
Delegated legislation is known by various names such as administrative law or rule-making
administrative legislation, sub ordinate legislation or quasi-legislation. It may be defined as a body of a
law, which is made administratively by means of rule, regulations and orders framed and promulgated
by the govt. or some executive authority in pursuance of power conferred on it by an act of legislation.
Delegated legislation is used in two senses. In one sense it means the exercise of the power of rule-
making delegated to the executive by the legislature. In the other sense it means the output of the
exercise of the power vis rules, regulations, orders, ordinances etc. the expression is used here in both
the senses, where the emphasis is on the limit of constitutionality of exercise of such power, the term is
used in the first sense and where the emphasis is ministerial on the output of the concrete rule, the term
is employed in the second sense.

2.5.1. Circumstances for delegated legislation

1) Pressure on legislature: legislature is too busy. It is overburdened with the legislative work.
Legislation on ever widening forms of a modern welfare and service state is not possible without the
technique of delegation.
2) It is trite: but it is correct to say that even if today Parliament sits all the 365 days in a year and all
the 24 hours it may not give that quantity and quality of laws, which are required for the proper
functioning of a modern government. Therefore, delegation of rule-making power is a compulsive
necessity.
3) Technically of subject matter: today legislation has become highly technical because of the
complexities of a modern government. Therefore, it is necessary for the legislature to confine itself to
policy statements only as the legislators are sometimes ignorant of legal and technical skills and leaves
the law-making responsibility to the administrative agencies.
4) Lack of viability and experimentation: ordinarily legislative process suffers from the limitation of
lack of viability and experimentation. A law passed by Parliament has to be in force till the next
session of parliament, when it can be repealed. Therefore in situations, which require adjustments
frequently and experimentation, administrative rule making is the only answer.
5) To meet unforeseen contingencies: parliament has to provide adequate authority through delegated
legislation to take care of emergencies like war, epidemics, flood, earthquake, drought, violent,
communal outburst etc.
6) Expediency and flexibility: rule made by departments under delegated legislation can move easily
by change in the light of changing conditions and experience. Delegated legislation therefore makes,
for flexibility and avoids the rigidity of legislative enactments, which cannot be amended, so easily
and quickly.
7) Public participation: today, there is grouping emergence of the idea of direct participation in the
scrutinisation of law by those, who are supposed to be representative more often proves a myth.
Therefore, administrative rule-making is a more convenient and effective way and provides for this
participation.

2.5.2. Advantages of delegated legislation

1) Delegated legislation saves the time of parliament and freeing it from the burden of details,
enables it to concentrate on the general principles and important issue of policy.
2) It can be easily done in consultation with the interest affected. The drafting of the rule may and
often does permit meeting between the govt. and the parties as interest and consequently a board
technological advances.
3) It makes for flexibility. Since, details are left to be filled up by the executive they may be easily
changed in response to fast changing needs, without necessitating a formal amendment of the act. This
elasticity is particularly desirable in fields that are undergoing rapid changes as result of quick
scientific and technological advances.
4) It provides for expert legislation. The rules are drafted by experts in the appropriate than by the
ordinary member of the legislature.
5) Parliament is not always in session therefore, it is best to provide necessary rules to the
administrative agencies with the necessary description to deal with them by rule-making.

2.5.3. Disadvantages of delegated legislation

The following criticism are advanced against delegated legislations
1) The system presents a serious danger to free society, so wide a discretion given to officials creates
a bureaucratic require and may even turn a democracy into despotism and arbitrary rule.
2) Even if it is recognized that delegation of certain power to subordinates legislation are necessary,
there still remains the danger of the legislature delegating unlimited powers. The danger is real in India
where the Union Parliament and State Legislatures delegating unlimited powers. The union parliament
and the state legislatures have passed certain ‘skeleton laws, which confer blanket power upon the
executive’.
3) Rule-making by bureaucracy may over look what is politically feasible. The official may not be
able to see what the p[people may not want to have.
4) A great power of rule-making into the hand of administrative officials may corrupt the
administration and ultimately the whole society. Rule makers may be subjected to political pressure
and turn the rules to special of private instead of public purposes.

Question
1. Discuss the different kinds of chief executive.
2. What is organisation? Explain the bases of organisation.
3. Define Public Corporation and explain its features.
4. Write a short note on Delegated Legislation.

UNIT- 3
PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION: METHODS OF RECRUITMENT, CIVIL SERVICE
NEUTRALITY, MORALE

Introduction
People are an important asset for the organisations. The successful functioning of an organisation
depends on the manpower and quality of leadership. The manpower by itself does not contribute to the
development of an organisation; it has to be converted into human resources/ human capital through
systematic planning, adequate training and proper education. Human capital can be defined as the sum
total of knowledge, skills and aptitudes of the people in the society. An organisation can never achieve
its goals and objectives without human capital. Together with the human resource, there are other
important resources such as financial resources, physical resources and technological resources. But
human resources are the most vital as they generate the other resources. Adequate utilisation of human
resources automatically leads to optimum utilisation of financial, physical and technological resources.
Personnel Administration is more commonly called human resources management. People are
considered the most important resource a business has. Human Resource or personnel administration
refers to the areas of recruiting, selecting, assessing, developing and retaining employees. Organization
is a large part of personnel administration. Employees must be organized in a way that gets the work
done. As long as employees are striving to be efficient in completing their employment
responsibilities, companies usually work at retaining them. Keeping good employees saves the time
and expense of replacing them. Laws pertaining to wrongful dismissal of employees must also be
adhered to or a business could find itself in a lawsuit. The human resources department of a company
instructs managers on proper conduct toward employees.
Recruiting and selecting successful employees at the start is the main objective of personnel
administration. Once employees are hired, adequate training is required to be provided for their
development. During their employment, employees are evaluated or assessed by managers. This is
done through performance review. A performance review allows a manager to evaluate an employee’s
overall job performance and suggest any improvements.
Personnel Administration handles issues in the workplace such as violence, discrimination or
sexual harassment complaints. The personnel department must work within the law; therefore an
understanding of laws pertaining to conduct in the workplace is important. Correct procedures and
actions must be followed by the company or it could face legal consequences if employees take the
matter to court. It also needs to focus on laws that apply safe working conditions, minimum wage and
overtime. Proper records of all employees must be maintained by the personnel department.

3.1. Concept of Personnel Administration

The task of government keeps increasing and becoming more complex every day. This leads to
the increase of tasks, responsibilities and activities of organisations, whether public or private multiply.
The demands on personnel, at every level, in terms of efficient discharge of their duties also rise. The
task of personnel administration is to assure a steady source of people who can contribute to the
success of an organisation and meet the growing demands of development.
To understand the concept of personnel administration, it is very essential to first understand the
meaning and nature of the term.
Personnel Administration is closely related to an organization’s overall effectiveness. There is no
standard definition of the term Personnel Administration. However, there is a widespread unanimity
among writers on its meaning, scope and purpose.
According to Thomas G Spates, “Personnel Administration is a code of the ways of organising and
treating individuals at work so that they will each get the greatest possible realisation of their intrinsic
abilities, thus attaining maximum efficiency for themselves and their group and thereby giving to the
enterprise of which they are a part, it determines competitive advantage and optimum results.”
Michael J. defines Personnel Administration as, “the field of management which has to do with
planning, organising, and controlling various operative functions of procuring, developing,
maintaining and utilising a labour force such that the:
a. Objectives for which the company is established are attained economically and effectively;
b. Objectives of all levels of personnel are served to the highest possible degree; and
c. Objectives of the community are duly considered and served.
The Institute of Personnel Management in U.K. defines Personnel Management as “that part of
the management function which is primarily concerned with the human relationships within the
organisation. Its objective is the maintenance of those relationships on a basis which, by consideration
of the wellbeing of the individual, enables all those engaged in the undertaking to make their
maximum personnel contribution to the effective working of that undertaking.”
The Indian Institute of Personnel Management has also adopted this definition.
Based on these definitions, we can say that personnel administration includes all activities and
functions relating to policy formulation, planning, policy implementation, social change and
modernisation, administrative reforms and public relations in an organisation. It aims at optimum
utilisation of human resources in order to achieve maximum results with minimum wastage of funds
and technology.
Personnel Administration is variously known as Personnel Management, Labour Relations,
Manpower Management, Labour Welfare Management, etc. But the term Personnel Administration
connotes a wider meaning; it includes both personnel management and industrial relations.

3.2. METHODS OF RECRUITMENT

Introduction
Recruitment is the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. In the
words of D. E. Klinger, “Recruitment is the process of attracting qualified applicants for jobs.”
According to Dimock, “Recruitment simply means securing the right people for particular jobs, and it
may take the form of advertising for large groups of employees or tracking out a highly skilled
individual for special work.” Recruitment, in other words, involves contact with the labour market. It
thus procures a group of applicants. These applicants, seekers after jobs, have got to be screened and
the list is to be narrowed down to the eligible few. This is the task of selection.
 The recruitment industry has four main types of agencies: employment agencies, recruitment
websites and job search engines, head-hunters for executive and professional recruitment, and niche
agencies which specialize in a particular area of staffing. Some organizations use employer branding
strategy and in-house recruitment instead of agencies. Recruitment related functions are generally
carried out by an organization’s human resources staff.
The stages in recruitment include sourcing candidates by advertising or other methods, screening
potential candidates using tests and interviews, selecting candidates based the results of the tests and
interviews, and on-boarding to ensure the candidate is able to fulfil their new role effectively.

Process of selection and recruitment

1. Announcement of examinations, through newspapers, journals and other media;
2. Holding of examinations for testing or determining the abilities of the recruits;
3. Certification is the process of sending for an appointment;
4. Selection is the act of choosing from eligible candidates;
5. Appointment is made by the competent authorities of selected recruits. Appointment may be
permanent, temporary, provisional or probationary;
6. Placement refers to the putting of recruited persons in the right jobs; and
7. Orientation means induction into the service and a certain amount of training for a particular job.

3.2.1. Methods of recruitment

There are two methods of recruitment. They are a) Recruitment from within, and b) Recruitment
from without. The first method is promotion, and the second one is recruitment in the true sense of the
term. These two methods are not mutually exclusive and all governments meet their personnel
requirements by taking recourse to both of them. Indeed, the best solution of the problem lies in a
happy blend of the two in the light of administrative experience and the general political outlook. It
may, however, be pointed out that direct recruitment should be the rule at lower levels; direct
recruitment combined with a liberal system of promotions (recruitment from within) should be the
policy for middle levels; and top positions should normally go by well-designed system of promotion.
Thus, this problem is chiefly concerned with the middle rungs of the public services.
It will do well to analyze the relative merits and demerits of both these methods of recruitment.

3.2.2. Advantages of Direct Recruitment or Recruitment from without

The following advantages are claim in favour of direct recruitment of personnel:
1. It is in complete accord with the principle of democracy. It provides equal opportunities to all
regardless of whether they are already in the public services or not. It is, thus, a fair system which
does not practice any discrimination.
2. Government has a wider field from which it can meet its personnel requirements. Recruitment
from within severely restricts the field to those employees only who are already in the public
services.
3. Government can continue attracting capable young persons who would otherwise be diverted to
other jobs, depriving government of its just share in the country’s best products of universities and
educational institutes.
4. Direct recruitment ensures a continuous supply of fresh men of abilities and competence. This is
particularly essential in technical and professional fields where new techniques and ideas continue
emerging rapidly. Governmental work and practices are, thus, enabled to keep pace with advances
made in these several fields.
5. Since direct recruitment ensures a regular induction of young person into the government, the
public services are kept attuned to the changing socio-economic conditions of the country. This
system, thus, arrests stagnation and the development of conservative habits.

3.2.3. Disadvantages of Direct Recruitment or Recruitment from without

1. Examination system cannot discover the working capacities of individuals
2. It is costly because huge amount of money is spent to conduct the examinations.
3. It takes long time because different procedures such as written examination, personal interview,
appointment letters etc have to be maintained
4. Time and economy is consumed in the training period. Proper training is required in order to make
those who are recruited be capable of performing the work. Thus, takes a long time,

3.2.4. Advantages of Recruitment from within

The system of recruitment from within claims the following advantages
1. This system ensures that persons who are appointed at higher posts have had sufficient experience
of governmental work and administration. This experience helps them in discharging their new
responsibilities with both ability and confidence.
2. It provides the employees with ample opportunities for advancement. The employees well know
that they will work their way up if they continue working efficiently and loyally. This system,
thus, provides incentive to the employees to work well. Both the reward and the penalty for
efficient work or lack of it are built in this system.
3. As persons appointed to higher posts already possess experience and knowledge of governmental
work, prolonged training may not be necessary for them. Government has, consequently, spared
this additional burden and cost. Also, it reduces the burden of the Public Service Commission and
other recruiting authorities, who would otherwise be called upon to examine an army of
applicants.
4. The employees would like to continue in the public services if they have reasonable chances of
promotions. This prospect makes the public services more attractive. The Government may offer
lower salaries at lower grades of the services. Yet, people would find these jobs acceptable under
the well-defined prospect that they would move up the hierarchy in due course of time.
5. Under the system of direct recruitment, recourse is necessarily taken to examinations and/or
interviews. These devices are not foolproof method of assessing the abilities and personal traits of
the applicants. Only work at the desk reveals these qualities. Hence, the system of recruitment
from within ensures that the competent persons would be entrusted with higher responsibilities. At
any rate, this system is more reliable than the system of direct recruitment.
6. On the basis of the record of the past performance, an employee can safely be entrusted with new
responsibilities.
7. It provides great incentive to hard work which is essential to increase efficiency to the government
service.
This system is an indispensable element of the career service, which has been described by
White as “an occupation which one normally takes up in youth with the expectation of advancement
and pursues until retirement.” The Commission of Inquiry on Public Service Personnel, appointed by
the Social Science Research Council of the United States, remarked in its report (Better Government
Personnel, 1935), “...a career cannot be said to exist if top positions are generally recruited from
outside, from men who do not understand the work, and in such a way as to create an effective bar to
advancement from the bottom to the top of the service itself.”

3.2.5. Disadvantages/shortcomings of recruitment from within are as follows:

1. It narrows down the area of selection by practicing discrimination.
2. It provides for a ‘closed’ public service, strongly discouraging ‘lateral entry’, which ensures a
constantly fresh outlook.
3. It puts premium on experience, and neglects the brilliant university- trained young persons. This
system may, thus, favour the mediocre.
Neither of these two systems can be exclusively adopted for the selection of personnel in the
government. In practice, a good recruitment policy combines both the systems, in varying proportion,
to achieve the best results. In India, direct recruitment is limited to the lowest positions in each service,
and to a young group of entrants. A certain proportion of posts are earmarked for being filled up by
promotion. The proportion of direct recruitment and promotion varies from service to service, class to
class, and department to department. In the Income-tax departing, for instance, twenty per cent of the
posts are set aside for being filled up through promotion, and the remaining eighty percent of the posts
are filled up by direct recruitment. The posts of the upper division clerks in the Central Government
are now all filled up by promotion of lower division clerks, thus, doing away with direct recruitment
for these posts. Stoppage of direct recruitment to the grade of upper division clerks was recommended
by the Second Central Pay Commission (1957-1959), with a view to improving the prospects of lower
division clerks. Recruitment to the All-India Services is made direct by holding a competitive
examination, but a certain number of these posts go to promotees. In the case of the Indian
Administrative Service, these promotees also come from the executive offices of the States. In Class I
Services, there is a system of reservation of 25 to 30 per cent of posts for promoting persons from the
lower services.

3.2.6. Qualification of the employees

There are two types of qualification required of public servants- general and special.
General qualification
1) Civil status: since the growth of nation states it has become a universal practice to recruit only
citizens. Even, when the service of an alien is indispensable, the appointment is made only on a short-
term basis.
2) Domicile: the domicile qualification is generally laid down in public services in federal countries
with the federal system. This qualification was first introduced in U.S.A. to give the representation to
each federating unit in the national service. Several cities brand in an undesirable and decidedly
harmful practice impeding efficiency.
3) Sex: public services are also determined on the basis of sex.
4) Age: in countries like Britain and India, where the concept of civil service as a career has been
adopted, comparatively lower age limits for clerical and semi-skilled job and for administrative and
technical have been provided.
Special qualifications
1) Educational: in respect of educational qualification, different countries prescribe patterns. The
British system lays down definite educational qualification for interacts with an emphasis on liberal
education. In India University graduate can sit for the civil services competitive examinations.
2) Technical qualification: technical experience is an additional qualification often laid down for
technical service. This is essential to fill up technical posts in public administration by professionals
like doctors, engineers, etc.
3) Personal qualification: the public servant is required to posses many personnel qualifications like
integrity, resourcefulness, tact and sincerity.
Desirable qualifications are:
a) A flexible but essentially scientific mode of thought, characterized by recognition of the need for
coordination.
b) Familiarity with the subject matter of organization and management.
 c) Facility at problem solving.
d) A highly developed reading and writing ability.

3.2.7. Methods of determining qualifications

1) Personal judgment of the appointing authority: this system is followed when there are a small
number of posts to be filled. An appointing officer is by qualification and experience, the best person
to lay down the qualifications.
2) Certificate of character, ability and educational qualification: before appointing a person to a
public post, character certification and academic recommendations from responsible persons can be
good methods of judging a candidate’s past record.
3) Record of previous experience: the entire previous records of work of candidate are examined.
The USA has evolved a scientific system of making records of the work and experience of employees
through what is known as “efficiency records” or service-ratings.
4) Examination: civil service recruitment examinations are meant to test not only the general
knowledge of mental ability of the candidates, but also some of their personnel traits and service
records.
The main personnel recruitment tests are:
a) Written examination: written tests may be either essay type or objective types in form. Essay type
is meant to examine the power and clarity of expression and standard of logical thinking of the
candidates. The objective type is usually employed to test the general knowledge and speed of
thinking.
b) Ability tests: they may be either objective or essay type in form. In both, the purpose is to assess
the general mental ability of the candidate, his memory etc. Ability test includes General Intelligence
Test, Unit Trait System and Social Intelligence Test

3.3. Recruitment system in India

Indian recruitment system is based on the findings of the Macaulay Committee appointed in
1854, in order to enquire into the mode of recruitment into the civil services of the East India
Company. Though more than one and a half century has elapsed, since the report was published, the
basis of our recruitment system remains the same.
Before independence, separate exams for Indian Civil Service were held every year both in
England and India. After independence, recruitment to the Indian Civil Service and the Indian Police
Service was not resumed, but new services known as IAS was established. Another service, IFS was
established to meet the countries requirement for diplomatic personnel. The commission was
redesignated as UPSC in 1950, when the constitution came into force. There was no restriction on the
number of attempts allowed to a candidate. In 1969, the step towards the introduction of Indian
language as the medium of examination candidates were given the option to use the Indian languages
included in the eight scheduled of constitution, besides English, as medium of examination for
compulsory subjects of essay and general knowledge. In 1972, the upper age limit for the examination
was raised to 26 years from 24.
The Kothari Committee on recruitment policy and selection methods was appointed by the
UPSC on February, 1947 submitted its report in March, 1976. In December 1978, the government of
India accepted the scheme of exam as proposed by the Kothari Committee and thus the Civil Service
Exams held with UPSC, since 1978, marked a significant departure from the pattern hither to be
followed.
 In 1988, another committee called the committee to review the scheme of Civil Service
Examination was appointed under the chairmanship of Satish Chandra. The Satish Chandra Committee
in 1988 reported that (a) an essay paper should be included in the main examination, (b) the subjects
like medical and engineering be included in the syllabus of the competitive examination, (c) the marks
of the personality test should be increased from 250 to 300. These recommendations were accepted
and become operative from 1993 examination.
Any Indian who possess a university degree and is of the age group of 21 to 30 can appear in the
examination. The competitive exam consists of two successive stages. First is civil service (prelim) for
the selection of candidates for main exam which consists of papers, mainly GS and CSAT. Both are
objective types. After prelims, subjective candidates have to come in merit by marks of mains and
interview.
The Administrative Reform Commission in its report personnel administration made certain
recommendation regarding the composition and powers of public service commission, which are given
below
1) In appointing members of state Public Service Commission, the Governor should consult the
chairman of UPSC and also chairman of state Public Service Commission.
2) In appointing members of the UPSC, the chairman of UPSC should be consulted.
3) Not less than two-thirds of the members of the UPSC should be drawn from among the chairman
and members of state PSCs.
4) At least one of the members of the state PSC should belong to a different state.
5) The minimum academic qualification for a member of the commission should be a university
degree.
6) Only a secretary or head of a department or person holding a post equivalent to this rank or a
comparable post in the institution of higher education should be eligible for selection out of govt.
officials.
7) Members selected from non-officials should have practiced at least 10 years in any of the
recognized profession vis law, medicine, engineering, science, technology, accountancy or
administration.
8) The commission should be consulted by the govt. before keeping certain matters regarding
consultation with it beyond its purview.
9) The UPSC should be associated with the selection of personnel to and their promotion with the
quasi govt. bodies entirely or substantially financed by government.
10) State Public Service Commission should be equipped with the similar powers over quasi-govt.
institution falling within the jurisdiction of their respective state government.
11) Research cells should set-up in the PSCs to appraise the effectiveness of recruitment by follow-up
studies and to analyze trends in the skill market and in the educational sphere and to provide data for
determining the recruitment policies.

3.4. CIVIL SERVICE NEUTRALITY

Introduction
The term ‘Civil Service’ was coined by the East India Company. The East India Company
(1600-1858) had its employees who were called servants. Those servants who were working on the
‘Civil side’ were called ‘Civil servants’. The term was formally adopted in the year 1785.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term as “The permanent professional branches of state
administration excluding military and judicial branches and elected politicians”.
In Britain, the term has been defined as “those servants of the Crown other than holders of political or
judicial offices, who are employed in a civil capacity, and whose remuneration is paid wholly and
directly out of monies voted by Parliament.”
The above definitions clearly show that the term has two distinct meanings: a) a branch of
governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven
by competitive examinations, and b) the body of employees in any government agency other than the
military.
Civil Service according to Finer is, “a professional body of officials, permanent, paid and
skilled.”
With the expanding activities of the state, the role and importance of personnel is also increasing.
The activities of the state have increased tremendously that the complex problems of the modern
society cannot be left to the care of untrained, unsalaried, illiterate and unwilling officials.
The importance of Civil Service in the modern government has been briefly summed up by Ogg:
“The work of the government would never be done if there were only the secretaries of state and other
heads of departments, the presidents of boards, parliamentary under-secretaries, junior lords, and civil
lords, in other words, the ministers—to do it. These people cannot be expected to collect taxes, audit
accounts, inspect factories, take censuses, to say nothing of keeping accounts, delivering mail, and
carrying messages. Such manifold tasks fall, rather, to the body of officials and employees known as
the permanent civil service.....It is this great body of men and women that translates law into action
from one end of the country to the other and brings the national government into its daily contacts with
the rank and file in the country—less in the public eye than the ministry; this army of functionaries is
not a whit less necessary to the realization of the purposes for which the government exists.”
One of the most important traditional virtues of Civil Service has been its neutrality. In the words
of the Masterman Committee, “The characteristic which has long been recognized in the British
administrator and extolled as a special virtue is his impartiality, and in his public capacity, a mind
untinged by political prepossession.”
Senior civil servants would necessarily refrain from all political activities that would adversely
affect their ability to perform their official duties fairly, or that would tend to identify them personally
with a political party .or its policies. The senior civil servant should make no public or private
statements to the press except of a pure y formal nature. He should make no public speeches of a
political or controversial character.” However, the traditional concept of neutrality has been challenged
on many grounds. In the first place, the concept is based on a belief in “politics, administration
dichotomy.” The traditional idea of ministers or political executive framing policies and the civil
servants or permanent executive just executing them is no longer valid. The role of the civil servant
has been changing from being a mere agent of a political executive to that of collaboration with it.
Policy formulation is an all- pervasive process and a cooperative endeavour.
Secondly, the concept is based on confusion between party politics and policy politics. Party
politics should avoid at all costs by the public officials, but not policy politics. As Appleby has
correctly pointed out, all administration today is political since it must be responsive to the public
interest. One of the important duties of the modern public official is to win public approval of the
government policies and secure their co-operation in their implementation. “Public administration is
not something set apart from, but is an integral part of the whole system of popular government and
democratic ideals.”
Thirdly, the role of the civil servant has changed with a shift in the nature and purpose of the
State from negative to positive. Today, the State is engaged in creating a welfare society, and in
underdeveloped countries it implies planned effort. In order to succeed, this calls for a new type of
positive-minded, action-oriented and humanely-inclined public official. Such tasks can hardly be well
performed by officials who are merely hardworking, procedure- minded, impartial and honest. One of
the most important aspects of Civil Service neutrality is the position in respect of political activities by
civil servants. The problem involved here is that of striking a balance between two conflicting
interests: “(i) In a democratic society it is desirable for all citizens to have a voice in the affairs of the
State and for as many as possible to play an active part in public life, and (ii) the public interest
demands the maintenance of political impartiality in the Civil Service and of confidence in that
impartiality as an essential part of the structure of Government.” Different countries have attempted to
get out of this dilemma in different categories of public employees. In India, the Civil Service Conduct
Rules prohibit the Government employees from active participation in political activities. For instance,
Rule 4 of the Central Civil Service (Conduct) Rules, 1955, debars a Government servant from being a
member of any political organization and from participating in any political movement or activity or
subscribing to it or assisting it in any way. State Governments and even local bodies follow the Central
Government pattern. Of late, many local bodies and even educational institutions, like the universities,
have made rules forbidding their employees from contesting for any legislature. However, there is a
provision for an official and university’ faculty to contest elections to a local authority with the prior
permission of the Government.
In India, the question of conferring political rights on civil servants - on par with other citizens -
became live in 1973. The Committee on Petitions (Rajya Sabha) considered the petition in its Fifty
First Report, presented to the Rajya Sabha in June 1977. It stood against the grant of political rights to
civil servants on the ground that this measure would have an adverse effect on the objective and non-
partisan approach expected of a government servant.

3.5. MORALE
Morale refers to a condition physical and emotional well being in the individual or in the groups
that makes it possible for him or the group to function with energy, confidence and enthusiasms. It
refers to the condition of a group where there are clear and definite group goals and proposes that are
felt to be important and that are integrated with individual goals.
a) Morale is a function of the integration and cooperation among the members of a group
b) It also implies the degree of participation in the determination of the goals or objectives of the
work prestige and recognition are invariably related to morale.
c) A wholesome public service is characterized by a high prestige, a positive morale and integrity.
d) Morale is the state of mind of an individual or a group with respect to work and work
environment.
e) High morale is always basic to civil service. It is impossible to think of an efficient civil service
sans (without) morale. The British Civil Service has been termed the envy to the world. Lord Hewart
rated it the best Civil Service.
f) Morale may be defined as the readiness of a group of persons to work enthusiastically and
persistently for furthering the purpose and for achieving the objectives of the organization in which
they are employed.
g) Morale depends upon the physical, mental and emotional health of the employee.
h) It has been defined by Alexander Leighton as the capacity of a group of people to pull together
persistently and consistently in pursuit of common purpose. It is an inner possession of an individual
as well as of a group each interacting upon the other.
i) Morale refers to a sense of belonging and a sense of unity of purpose, which may prevail among
the employee of an organization. A high standard of morale is reflected in a standard of efficiency,
integrity and responsiveness.
High morale is a primary requirement of an efficient civil service. If the level or degree of morale is
low, the inefficient and incompetent civil service will be the result. Its presence leads to all round
efficiency. It creates in the employees of the organization an esparit de corps. High group morale may
help tide over phase of depression of an employer, who is perplexed and distressed by personal
worries.

3.5.1. Factors affecting morale

Morale is affected by a number of factors. Some of them are as follows
1) Recruitment policies terms of employment and working conditions.
2) Internal relationship communication and human relation of an organization.
3) Relation of an organization with its internal environment.
Recruitment, training, terms of employment and working condition has a considerable influence
or morale of personnel. When fair play and merit are the guiding principle in the recruitment of staff
employees will have confidence in the management and this will be conducive to their moral. In India,
where recruitment to the public service is by Public Service Commission and by open competition
there is general confidence in recruitment. Training generally has no direct influence by itself on
morale as far as the objective of training programme is only the inculcation of skill or occupational
knowledge among employees.
However, training can be utilized for the improvement of morale if its objective is not only the
inculcation of vocational skill, but also the development of administrative leadership and making the
rank and file of the employees make them conscious of the purpose of the organization as well as of
the place, which it occupies in the community as a whole.
Inadequate salaries and retirement benefits create financial worries in the minds of employees in
regard to the present as well as the future. These worries, which have a depressing effect upon the
morale of the employees will in turn, injure the administrative efficiency. Big difference in salary
structure will tend to give rise to jealousy and caste feelings among the employees. This injury to the
harmony will have a bad effect upon morale.

Question
1. What is morale? Examine the importance of morale in public administration.
2. What is recruitment? Examine the merits and demerits of indirect recruitment.
3. Discuss the merits and demerits of direct recruitment.

UNIT-4
CITIZEN ADMINISTRATION: OMBUDSMAN, LOKPAL AND LOKAYUKTA

Introduction
The concept of public participation was first operational in ancient Greece where democracy as a
form of government originated. Since then the importance of people’s participation in administration
has been universally accepted. However since late 1960s, the term citizen participation has been
acquiring growing popularity.
People’s participation means the direct involvement of citizens in the process of administrative
decision making, policy formulation and implementation. It implies people’s control over
administration or public influence on administration. It is essential for the smooth and effective
performance of the administrative machinery. It makes the administration more responsive and
accountable to the needs of the people. In the words of R. K. Sapru, “It represents a revived interest in
the philosophy of participatory democracy promoted by the French political philosopher Alexis
Tocqueville who propounded that individual citizen participation is essential to the survival of a
democracy and that democracy is undermined when citizens are incapable of influencing government
decisions. This is known as the bottom-up-rule.” United Nations Research Institute of Social
Development defines the concept of people’s participations as, “....the organised efforts to increase
control over the resources and regulative institutions in given social situations on the part of groups
and movements of those hitherto excluded from such control.”According to Sosyal, “Participation
gives the ordinary citizen to show willingness to carryout constructive public work and to democrature
his willingness.”
Democratic politics entirely rests on active participation of people in the administrative process
of government and public office. It is a well known factor that a democratic government is based on
the ‘doctrine of popular sovereignty’ which means that the people are supreme in a democracy.
Administration in democracy is responsible to the people. Therefore, people’s participation in
administration is important. It transforms the representative democracy into participatory democracy.
It covers every kind of action by which citizens take part in the development of administration. It
involves deliberate and systematic mobilisation of citizens around issues and problems of common
concern. The development process in a democratic form of government can only succeed when the
citizens associate themselves with planning development programmes and participate fully in their
implementation.
People’s participation in administration has several advantages:
1. Participation is a means of showing that people are capable of assuming responsibility by their own
interest
2. It is a means of ventilating their feelings and thoughts
3. It offers them an opportunity to demonstrate their willingness to do constructive work for the nation
and show that they are good citizens
4. It is- a cure for the .unresponsiveness and repressiveness of traditional decision-making
mechanisms. Especially it enables the poor to participate in the development process of nation
5. Expansion in the functions of state, explosion of knowledge and communication, and the failure of
the bureaucracy to meet the growing demands of citizens, has also made citizen participation more
effective.

4.1. Modes of Participation in Administration

People’s participation can be studied under two heads. They are:
1. Participation in General Administration
2. Participation in Development Administration

1. Participation in General Administration

People’s participation is however indirect and mainly informal. But there are some formal and
constitutional modes of participation as well. They are as follows:
a. System of Election- the highest officials and executives of the state are directly or indirectly elected
by the people. The administrative officers are appointed by and are responsible to them. In this way,
these officials who are participating in the formulation of public policies come under the control of
the people.
b. System of Recall- some constitutions which provide for the election of the officials also provide for
their recall. In this system, the officials have to retire from their office before the expiry of their
tenure if he/she is defeated in a recall poll.
c. Pressure Groups- pressure groups are active in all countries. The main function of these groups is to
influence executive because they have to seek big favours from the executive. Pressure groups also
create public opinion in their favour against executive or administration. For this they sponsor
conferences, distribute books and literature, write articles etc.
d. Advisory and Consultative Committee- this is another form of public control in democratic states.
These committees are appointed in the highest to the lowest levels of administration. They consist
 of important knowledgeable persons of different section of society. Through the co-operation of the
common citizens in the formulation and administration of policy, they help the administration to
acquire a democratic character.
e. Public Opinion- public opinion is that which has been arrived at by an effective majority of citizens
and which is such that looks to the well being and interest of all in the nation. Sir Henry Maine said
that “voice of people may be voice of God.” The basis of true democracy is public opinion. The
democratic government derives its power from public opinion and is based on it. The government or
public official who violates the public opinion cannot stay long. Therefore, it is said that, “an alert
and enlightened public opinion is the first essential of democracy.”
2. Participation in Development Administration
People’s participation in the development administration means the direct involvement of people in the
process of administering development programmes in the society. there are four kinds of participation
in the development process:
a. Participation in decision making
b. Participation in implementation
c. Participation in evaluation
d. Participation in sharing benefits.
In development administration people participate through Panchayati Raj institutions,
cooperative institutions, mahila mandals, farmers service societies, yuvak kendras and other voluntary/
non-governmental organizations.

4.2. Forms of People’s Participation

There are two forms of people’s participation. They are
1. Institution forms- this for has two types- Formal and Informal. Formal participation is governed by
rules and regulations. This type of participation is found in developing countries. Informal
participation is common. E.g., Youth and women’s organisations, voluntary organisations,
religious, social and cultural associations, professional associations of teachers, doctors, etc.
2. Personal forms- personal form of participation includes (a) Representatives and (b) Individuals.
Representative participation is provided on a board, committee, council or commission whose
members speak as representatives of social groups, e.g., trade unions, professional associations. In
Individual participation, persons are invited in their individual capacities to sit on boards, council,
etc., on the basis of the expertise, qualifications. This form of participation is found in developed
nations as well as in the developing countries.

4.3. THE CITIZEN-ADMINISTRATION INTERFACE

In a democracy, citizen-administration relations are significant because the success of a
representative government depends upon the support and consent of the people. The state and in actual
terms, the administration have important responsibilities for providing major amenities such as life-
education, health, employment opportunities; improved means of transport and infrastructure, etc., to
its citizens. All this ensures a good life for the citizens. In public administration two noticeable trends
have emerged in recent times. First, with the expanding size of the public bureaucracy, its powers and
activities are also increasing. Second, the expectations of the people from the administration keep
rising due to the general education which has created political and social awakening. The focus of the
relationship between the state and society has shifted from political liberty to economic prosperity and
social justice. The state has expanded its political base through a universal adult franchise.
Administration has, therefore, of necessity penetrated into every aspect of civic life. The bulk of the
citizens who are voters and beneficiaries of state services are more keen on getting set vices supplied
than the subtle aspects of how they get them (Agarwal 2004, 270). The position of the citizens from
being mere recipients of administrative help and services has now shifted to their being the prime
movers in the affairs of governance.
 Mohit Bhattacharya (2008) illustrates five different ways in which citizens interact with the
administrative agencies in their day-to-day life. These could be in the form of:
1. Clients: In this form, citizens seek to obtain benefits or services from governmental agencies. For
example, a patient visits a government hospital for a medical checkup or treatment.
2. Regulatee: As regulatee, the public interacts with many government agencies like the police,
income tax authorities, licensing authorities etc.
3. Litigants: As litigants, the public moves the court against the unjust actions of public agencies.
People seek redressal from the court when services are no provided to them in time or are harassed
by public authorities.
4. Participants: In this form people become direct participants in decision-making in public agencies
at different levels.
5. Cutting-edge encounters: In this form people approach the agencies which are responsible for day
today primary services and facilities to the public. For example, people approach municipal
employees for water, electricity, and sanitation facilities.
6. Protesters: besides the above five, there could be another form of interaction that is, people as
protesters. People often interact with government agencies on public policy as protesters, opposing
the injustice in government policies and actions. For example; people oppose the construction of a
dam in their locality.
Thus, in day to day life, citizens constantly interact with the administration. The purposes of
contact may be varied, for example, it may be for getting basic services like water, electricity and
health services or it may be for getting a driving license or an income tax return from the income tax
department. Sometimes people get the opportunity to directly participate in policy-making and the
implementation of a governmental agency or project. When people do not get services in time or are
harassed by public authorities, they seek redressal of their grievances from the court. When their
grievances are not redressed or when justice is no given to them, they resort to protests or criticize the
unjust policies and actions of the government. Through these happy or unhappy interactions, citizens
form opinion about public administration.

4.4. Citizen's Perceptions about the Administration

In reality, the interaction between citizens and the administration is supposed to be trustworthy
and purposeful. But the truth is that the relation is always plagued by conflicts, stresses and strains.
Discontent amongst the citizens has become a normal feature because of the wide disparity between
the performance of administration and popular expectations. The general feeling of the people is that
the policies are cumbersome and the processes of administration are unjust. Another important
problem needed to be mentioned is deterioration in the standards of honesty and integrity in both,
politics and administration. These qualities are almost invisible in administration because it is covered
by corruption. Rigid observance of rules and regulations, non-acknowledgement of complaints,
inordinate delays in the disposal of various matters account for the lack of faith of public in
administration.
A number of research studies have been undertaken to examine the relationship between the
citizens and administration in India. Some such important ones include studies on 'Police
Administration' by Davis H. Bayley (1969), 'Rural Development' by Rakesh Hooja (1978) and ‘Urban
Government' by V. Jagannadhan (1978). These studies reveal interesting information on citizens'
perceptions about public administration in India. The general perceptions of the people on
administration that emerge out of these studies include:
1. Inordinate delays and waiting periods
2. Favouritism in administration
3. Need for middlemen (brokers) to get things done
4. Unhelpful attitude of the officials especially lower level functionaries
5. Citizens' ignorance about procedures involved in getting things done
6. Rich-poor discrimination in administration: the rich having access to administration and the general
tendency of officials to avoid the poor, and underplay their needs and interests (Bhattacharya
2008/257).
According to the Sixth Central Pay Commission's (2008), the general perceptions of the people
on administration are:
a. Bureaucracy denotes routine and repetitive procedures, paper work and delays.
b. Rigidities of the system over centralization of powers, highly hierarchical and top down method of
functioning with a large number of intermediary levels delaying finalization of any decision
c. Divorce of authority from accountability
d. The tendency towards micromanagement, have led to a structure in which form is more important
than substance and procedures are valued over end results and outcomes.
e. Nonperformance of the administrative structures
f. poor service quality and lack of responsiveness
g. The subjective and negative abuse of authority has eroded trust in governance systems which needs
to be restored urgently.
Thus, it can be said that administration in India is generally perceived to be unresponsive,
insensitive and corrupt.

4.5. Barriers in Citizen-centric Administration in India

It is evident from the above discussion that the general perception of the people about admin-
istration in India is very negative. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2009) during its
visits to the states had several occasions to meet and hear from the public. Most observations by
citizens were about the poor quality of services provided by the government, the indifferent attitude of
government servants, corruption and abuse of authority and lack of accountability. A common
complaint pertained to excessive red-tapism and the long time taken to get even routine work
done. .The Commission in its 12th Report on citizen centric administration (Second ARC 2009, 14-16)
identifies the following five barriers in citizen-centric administration in India:
a. Wooden, inflexible, self-perpetuating and inward looking attitude of civil servants
b. Lack of accountability of civil servants
c. Red-tapism
d. Ineffective implementation of laws and rules
e. Low levels of awareness of the rights and duties of citizens
Thus, the reason for the administration not being citizen-centric can be attributed to the attitude
and work of some government servants, the deficiencies in the existing institutional structures and the
lack of awareness about rights and duties on the part of the citizens. Thus, Robson (1967) observes:
“In mind of average citizen, bureaucracy still suffers from traditional defects associated with it. These
are an excessive sense of self-importance on the part of officials or an undue idea of the importance of
their office, an indifference towards the feelings of the convenience of the individual citizens, mania
for regulations, formal procedures, a failure to recognize relations between the governors and the
governed as an essential-part of democratic process.”

4.6. Ensuring Citizen-friendly Administration

There are several pre-conditions which must be fulfilled in order to make administration citizen-
centric. Some of these preconditions are discussed below:
Accountability: Accountability is a key requirement of good administration. It means public servants
must be accountable to the public. They are not only accountable to the questions asked by the people
but also have to respond to demands and provide services to the people.
Accessibility: a good administration has to be accessible by the people. If people have any problems,
administrative officials should be ready to listen to them and accordingly respond to them too. It also
requires that there should be no discrimination and the poor should have easy access to the
administration.
Transparency: transparency is an essential pre-condition for good administration. It is the opposite of
secrecy. It implies that governmental policies and functioning be known to the larger society. It means
that the information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by
decisions and their enforcement. It also means that information is easily understandable. Transparency
enables citizens to keep themselves informed about policies of the government, the rights, that they
have and the services they can expect from the government. The Right to Information and the Citizens'
Charter are means of ensuring transparency in administration.
Participatory: this implies giving a voice to citizens in the governance process. It means the
involvement of people in administrative activities, particularly the participation of beneficiaries in
developmental activities, both at the formulation and implementation stage, for the success of
programmes. People's participation also safeguards against the abuse of administrative authority.
Responsiveness: A responsive administration is an apparently moral concept in public administration.
It calls for the public functionaries' accountability directly to the people. A responsive administration is
an effective administration and thus, gains 'legitimacy' in the public realm. A responsive administration
entails a mechanism of redressal of grievances also.
Effectiveness and efficiency: The success of an administrative system also depends on the effective
and efficient delivery of services to the people. Effectiveness is the extent to which an objective or
goal is achieved. If an organization has successfully achieved its objectives, it is considered effective.
Effectiveness is thus a matter of comparing results with the prior intentions. Efficiency on the other
hand refers to the process by which the organization maximizes its objectives with the minimum use of
resources.
In addition to the above mentioned necessary pre-conditions for a citizen-centric administration,
decentralization and delegation of policies, adoption of modern technology, process simplification and
integrity of the civil services are other features and norms for any successful administration.

4.7. PEOPLE'S PARTICIPATION IN ADMINISTRATION

People's participation in the administrative processes is basic to its success. It means the direct
involvement of citizens in the process of administrative decision-making, policy formulation and
implementation. Peoples' participation also means collective and continuous efforts of the people in
setting goals, pooling resources together and taking actions to improve their living conditions. To
William Morrow, the term citizen participation means the direct participation of ordinary men and
women, in contrast to public and private elites, in policy-making. Furthermore, it is employed to focus
on the direct participation of the underprivileged and enfranchised in decisions that affect their lives
(Morrow 1980, 190). Thus, People's participation is the involvement and participation of the people in
the decision-making processes of a nation.
Ensuring Good Governance
The concept of citizens' participation in governance is essentially based on the idea that citizens
have a legitimate role in influencing the decision-making process. Citizens' participation refers to the
mechanism and modalities by which citizens can influence and take control over the resources and
decision-making that directly impacts their lives. Participation of people in the governance improves
the representative democracy. It transforms the representative democracy into a more responsive and
participative grassroots democracy and thus, contributes to a healthy democracy. Active participation
of citizen can contribute to good governance in the following ways:
a. It enables citizens to make government accountable, more responsive, efficient and effective.
b. It helps to make government programmes and services more effective and sustainable.
c. It enables the poor and marginalized to influence public policy and service delivery to improve their
lives.
d. It helps individuals to develop a sense of civic maturity, become more educated, tolerant and
compassionate, which finally helps in improving the quality of policy.
e. It helps in recognizing that citizens have vital contribution to make for the betterment of public
policy.
f. It helps to promote healthy grassroots democracy.
g. It develops better understanding between the government and the people.
Thus, people's participation in administration ensures a transparent, accountable, participatory,
responsive, effective and efficient government. However, people's participation is not free from
barriers. One of these is the existence of widespread inactivity or disinterest in the larger society
resulting in lack of interest and submissiveness. Moreover, Citizens' participation does not necessarily
lead to leaders representing their constituencies. Sometimes, the local bureaucracy may silence the
representatives when they represent their individual interests and not their constituencies' cause. In
such cases, participation becomes a kind of formality like paper work, and not the empowerment of the
common people in its true sense.
The fact that participatory efforts occasionally are perverted does not mean that the perversions
make the participatory movement meaningless to its original purposes. Citizens' participation demands
certain preconditions which are needed for making citizens' participation more effective. To make the
democracy a truly representative and participatory democracy, there are certain necessary conditions
and actions, both on the part of officials as well as the common people. They are- an enlightened
political leader; acknowledgeable and competent citizens; conscientious civil servants; informed and
co-operative public; ensuring that information required for taking decisions are clear and precise; well
organized communication network; both authority and citizens must demonstrate willingness to take
responsibility; to make a practical survey of the environment for which it is intended; and participation
at all levels-both rural and urban (Avasthi and Maheswari 2010, 643). In the absence of these
conditions and actions, it is impossible to have a participatory democracy as well as representative
democracy because the true spirit of democracy involves the role of both the leader and the people.
Active participation of the citizens can contribute to good governance. It enables the citizens to
demand accountability and helps to make the government more efficient, responsible and effective. It
helps to make the government programmes more effective. By people’s participation, even the poor
citizens can influence over public policy which makes pressure on government to fulfil their needs.
Participation also helps to promote healthy and grassroots democracy.

4.8. ADMINISTRATIVE ACCOUNTABILITY

Accountability is an essential feature of all forms of democratic governments. The concept of
accountability refers to the liability of government servants to give a satisfactory account of the use of
official power or discretionary authority to the people. This is considered as an effective safeguard
against the misuse of power and the abuse of public authority. Mohit Bhattacharya (2008), places at
least four requirements on public administrators:
a. Make laws work as intended with minimum waste and delay.
b. Exercise lawful arid sensible administrative discretion.
c. Recommend new policies arid propose changes in the existing policies and programs as heeded.
d. Enhance citizen confidence in administrative institutions.
The concept of accountability carries two basic connotations: (a) answerability, which stands for
the obligation of public officials to inform about and explain what they are doing, and (b) enforcement,
that is, the capacity of accounting agencies to impose sanctions on the power holders who have
violated their public duties.

4.8.1. Administrative Accountability in India

In India, administrative accountability is enforced by means of various controls. The purpose of
control is to ensure that public servants exercise their powers and discretion in accordance with the
laws and regulations. Broadly speaking, there are two types of administrative control, namely internal
and external. The internal control operates from within the administrative machinery. The techniques
of internal control are: budgetary system, hierarchical order, enquiries and investigations, pressure
groups, press, and annual confidential reports. External accountability over the administration in India
is maintained through legislative, executive and judicial control.
The administration is made responsible towards the elected representatives because in a
democracy the people are supreme. The legislature has been given certain powers through the
Constitution and through conventions that keep an effective check on malpractices, and abuse of
authority by the administration. The legislature applies a number of methods such as, asking questions
during the question hour, Parliamentary discussions, Parliamentary audit, non-confidence motion and
complaints to the Ombudsman for controlling the administration.
Executive control over the administration is another potent instrument. The executive exercises
control over the administration through a number of means and techniques like, power of appointment
and removal, rule-making power, ordinances etc., civil service code, delegated legislation, budgetary
system and making appeal to public opinion. Another important instrument to ensure administrative
accountability is judicial control. This may take the shape of judicial reviews, statutory appeals to the
suits and writs against the government. Protection of rights and liberties of citizens is the main
objective of judicial control over administration.
Thus, budgetary measures, departmental inquiries, annual confidential reports etc. make the
administrative system accountable internally. The external accountability over administration is
ensured through legislative, executive and judicial controls.

4.8.2. Redressal of Public Grievances

The Chambers dictionary defines 'grievance' as 'a ground of complaint, a condition felt to be
oppressive or wrongful'. A grievance may arise out of the non-fulfilment of certain demands and
expectations. Mere demands may be related to policies of the government or to the per formance of the
administration in the implementation of policies framed by the government. A grievance is thus any
sort of dissatisfaction, which needs to be redressed. Some of the common grievances faced by the
people against the administration may be delineated in the following categories:
a. Red-tapism: delay in administrative functioning
b. Corruption: demand and acceptance of money for doing things
c. Favouritism: obliging or favouring the powerful and influential people
d. Nepotism: helping the people of one's own kith or kin
e. Discourtesy: use of abusive language or misbehaviour in public dealings
f. Neglect of Duty: not doing things as per the law
g. Delay: not doing things on time
h. Discrimination: ignoring the poor and weak sections and favouring the rich
i. Mal-administration: inefficiencies in achieving goals
j. Inadequate Redressal Machinery: absence of a machinery to attend to public complaints against
officials.

4.9. OMBUDSMAN
Introduction
The term "ombudsman' is traditionally viewed as a "citizen's defender” which is a rough
translation of the Swedish word. In Swedish terminology, it refers ‘to an officer appointed by the
legislature to handle complaints against administrative and judicial action'. 'Ombud', a Swedish word,
stands for a spokesman of another person. Most countries of the world have established an ombudsman
to investigate and address citizens' complaints against maladministration of public servants. Recent
developments have included the creation of specialized children's ombudsman and information
commissioner agencies. In many countries, the responsibility of ombudsman is protecting human rights.
For this, ombudsman is recognized as the national human rights institution. The post of ombudsman had
by the end of the 20th century been instituted by most governments of the world.
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some
internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent
interests. An ombudsman is a state official, usually appointed to provide a check on government
activity in the interests of the citizen, and to oversee the investigation of complaints of improper
government activity against the citizen. If the ombudsman finds a complaint to be substantiated, the
problem may get rectified, or an ombudsman report is published making recommendations for change.
Further redress depends on the laws of the country concerned, but this normally involves financial
compensation. Ombudsmen in most countries do not have the power to initiate legal proceedings or
prosecution on the grounds of a complaint. Their role is to intercede in the political process on behalf
of common citizens.
In India, efforts were made in early 1960s for the development of the institution of ombudsman.
Based on this, the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) was set up on 5 January 1966. The
commission, headed by Morarji Desai, submitted an interim report 'Problems of Redressal of Citizen’s
Grievances' in 1966. In this report, the ARC recommended the creation of two special authorities
designated as the 'Lokpal' and the 'Lokayukta' for the redressal of citizens' grievances: the former to
deal with complaints against the ministers and secretaries to the government at the Centre as well as in
the states, and the latter, that is, the Lokayukta, in each state and one at the Centre, to deal with
complaints against other officials.

4.10. The Lokpal Institution

The Lokpal is an independent body that enquires into cases of corruption against public
functionaries. The term ‘Lokpal’ was coined in 1963 by Laxmi Mall Singhvi, an MP, during
the parliamentary debate about grievance mechanism. The word was derived from the Sanskrit
words ‘Lok’ (people) and ‘Pala’ (protector), meaning ‘protector of people’.
As a result of the Administrative Reforms Commission (1968), the Lokpal Bill was first
introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1968. Since then the Bill has been introduced nine times in the
Parliament, but due to various reasons it could not be passes into a law. The latest Lokpal and
Lokayukta Bill (9th in number) was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 22 December 2011 following
massive public protests led by Anna Hazare, an anti-corruption crusader, who got massive support
from the common masses. The bill was passed by the House on 27 December 2011as the Lokpal and
Lokayuktas Bill, 2011. The bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on 17 December after making certain
amendments to the earlier bill and in Lok Sabha on 18 December 2013. The bill received assent from
the president on 1 January 2014 and came into force from 16 January and is officially called as the
Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.

4.10.1. Salient Features of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, is an anti-corruption Act which 'seeks to provide for the
establishment of the institution of Lokpal to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain
Public functionaries and for matters connecting them'. The following are the main features of the Act:
Nomenclature: There will be a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta at the level of the states.
Composition: The Lokpal will consist of a Chairperson and a maximum of 8 members, of which 50
per cent will be judicial members, while50 per cent members of Lokpal shall be from SC/ST/OBSs,
minority and women.
In order to ensure impartiality, it is provided that the chairman and the members shall not hold any
office of profit and shall not be the members of legislature or any political party and after the expiry of
their term shall be ineligible for any appointment under the State. Removal from office is only on the
ground of proved misbehaviour and incapacity.
Selection: Selection of the Chairperson and members of Lokpal will be done through a selection
committee. The selection committee will consists of the PM, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the leader
of Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or a sitting Supreme Court Judge
nominated by the Chief Justice of India.
Jurisdiction: The Prime Minister, ministers, current and former legislators, government employees,
employees of firms funded or collected by the Centre, societies and trusts that collect public money,
receive funds from foreign sources come under the purview of the anti-corruption law. However,
bodies creating endowments for or performing religious or charitable functions have been excluded.
Investigation: All anti-corruption inquiries should be completed within 60 days and the investigations
should be completed within 6 months. The Lokpal shall order a probe only after hearing the public
servant. An enquiry against the PM has to be held in-camera and will have to be approved by two-
thirds of the full bench of the Lokpal.
Prosecution: The Lokpal can initiate prosecutions through its Prosecution Wing before the Special
Court and the trial has to be completed within two years. The Bill also incorporates provisions for
attachment and confiscation of property acquired by corrupt means, even while the prosecution is
pending.
Central Bureau of Investigation: For independence of the CBI, in the new Bill, a Directorate of
Prosecution will be formed. Appointment of the Director of Prosecution will be on the
recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
Protection of Whistleblowers: the Act Provides adequate protection for honest and upright public
servants
Penalty: In case of false and frivolous complaints, there is a provision of imprisonment up to one year
and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh. In case of public servants, the imprisonment is up to seven years. In case
of Criminal misconduct and habitually abetting corruption the jail term is up to 10 years.
Lokayukta: Each state should set up a Lokayukta by law within 365 days. But the states will have the
freedom to determine the nature and type of Lokayukta.
Bar to proceedings: The Lokpal institution lays down that no proceedings or decision of the Lokpal
shall be liable to be challenged, reviewed, quashed or called in question in any court. This may bar the
jurisdiction of the civil courts but will not throw out the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the high
courts, under Articles 32 and 226 of the Constitution.
The Lok Pal Act, 2013 is a new mechanism to address the menace of corruption in India. The
Act is significant in the sense that it includes even the Prime Minister under its purview. It is more
inclusive, effective and time-bound. Adequate provisions are there to protect whistleblowers and
honest and committed officers. The provision of penalties and punishments is a deterrent for corrupt
and dishonest public servants. With the introduction of the new Act let us hope a new chapter of
accountable, transparent and responsive governance begins in India.

4.10.2. Criticism
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, has diluted the purpose of the Lokpal (as mentioned in
the Lokpal Bill of 1996 and 1998), to deal with complaints of corruption against MPs, ministers and
the PM by bringing all officers of the government and PSUs under the Lokpal jurisdiction. The
number of these officials is quite many that the complaints against all these officials will be too much
for the Lokpal to deal with. As a result, the Lokpal may not be able to give sufficient attention to
corruption allegations against MPs and ministers. Lokpal is a high-level institution that comprises of
very high-level members. It would be far greater and more meaningful if its jurisdiction is only
restricted to ministers and MPs.
The 2013 Lokpal Act has, no doubt, some positive aspects. The Lokpal has its own investigating
and prosecution wings for the purposes of investigation and prosecution. It does not dependent on
government agencies whose neutrality, objectivity and fairness, rightly or wrongly, may be questioned.
The Lokpal, under the Act, is not to entertain complaints alleging abuse of power or other
wrongdoings in cases which are more than seven years old. Such an upper limit for accepting and
probing complaints is desirable so that public functionaries do not become victims of malafide
complaints due to hatred or political grudge/revenge long after retirement from the public services. The
Act has empowered Lokpal to prosecute persons making false or frivolous complaints. Further, the
2013 Lokpal Act in Section 20(3) has provided that the Lokpal should afford a suspect public servant
an opportunity of being heard before initiating inquiry against him. All these provisions and features
would not only combat a substantial degree of corruption in the public domain but also would promote
good governance.
The institution of Lokpal is quite important to ensure good system of administration. As this has
been called the ‘watchdog of the administration' or 'protector of the little man’, it is important that it
should be given the constitutional status. But the Lokpal institution is not the only remedial measure
for all the ills in the politico-administrative system. For efficiency and effectiveness of the Lokpal
institution, it is essential that adequate internal methods of redress in the form of complaint machinery
need to be established. There is a strong and urgent need for paying proper attention to the total system
for handling grievances within the Government of India.
On the contrary, it is felt that a single ombudsman institution may not operate efficiently in
India. According to J. Mukherjee, this institution which is 'accusatorial and inquisitorial’ in nature
shall not be suitable in India because such an institution would be unprecedented in a democracy with
traditions of independent judiciary. So he concludes that it is an 'impracticable and disastrous
experiment which will not fit into the Indian Constitution’.

4.11. Lokayukta in States

Section 63 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, provides for the establishment of Lokayukta
in each state to deal with complaints relating to corruption against certain public functionaries. Based
on this, several states have constituted ‘Lokayuktas’ to investigate allegations or grievances arising out
of the conduct of public servants including political executive, legislators, officers of the state
government, local bodies, public enterprises and other instruments of the government. Orissa (Odisha)
was perhaps the first state to have Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 1970, but the Act came into force on 2
October 1983. Maharashtra was the first state to appoint a Lokayukta by enacting the Maharashtra
Lokayukta and Up-Lokayukta Act, 1971, in September 1971. Rajasthan enacted the Act in 1973. In
Bihar, the office of Lokayukta was created through issuing an ordinance in 1973 and was replaced by
regular legislation in 1974. Uttar Pradesh passed the Up-Lokayukta and Up-Lokayukta Act in 1975.
The Act came into force only in October 1977. Other states which followed the enactment of
Lokayukta Act are Kerala, Goa, Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh (1983), Haryana, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka (1985), Madhya Pradesh (1981) and Punjab. Now, nearly all states have institutions of
ombudsman with different-titles.

4.11.1. Role of Lokayukta at State Level

In a state, the Lokayukta is mainly to investigate into allegations made against a public servant.
It has been given jurisdiction over ministers, public servants and officers. It is a great check on
corruption, brings about transparency in the system and makes administrative machinery citizen-
friendly. It functions largely depend upon jurisdiction vested in it and facilities provided for taking
cognizance of citizens' grievances promptly, dexterously and expeditiously through a simple, informal
mechanism devoid of technicalities.
Corruption is a social evil which is capable of endangering stability and security of society,
threatening social, economic and political development and undermining the values of democracy and
morality. Corruption is a cancerous disease, and if it is not timely detected, it will malign the polity of
the country leading to disastrous consequences. It stops the speed of prosperity and development of the
country. It is, therefore, considered necessary to eradicate corruption with an iron hand, otherwise
march towards progress and prosperity would be delayed considerably. In this context, Lokayukta at
the state level has a contributory role. Lokayuktas must at the same time remember that their duty is
not just to indict public functionaries when they are guilty but also to protect them when nothing is
found wrong with their conduct and to correct wrong perceptions about them with equal force and
earnestness.
Lokayuktas in the states widely vary in respect of their jurisdictions, procedures and also powers.
There is no uniformity in the functioning of Lokayuktas of different states. Their effectiveness also
differs from state to state. This is due to the fact that Lokayuktas only have recommendatory powers
and no power to enforce their decisions. One of the main reasons why the Lokayuktas have failed to
make a mark across the states is the lack of uniformity about the selection and functioning. In some
states, chief ministers come under the ambit of the Lokayuktas, while in some others they do not. Since
Lokayuktas are set up in states on the basis of a law defining their composition and role made by the
respective state assemblies, the anti-corruption ombudsman in states has been reduced to a ceremonial
post. Justice Sarin said that Lokayukta should be given more powers so that all public officials who
indulge in corruption should be dealt with by this institution. The Second ARC in its fourth report,
Ethics in Governance, recommended uniformity in the general principles regarding the structure,
power and functions of Lokayuktas in all states. Lokayuktas must be provided adequate financial and
administrative autonomy.
In November 2012, as many as 16 Lokayuktas sent many recommendations to the Government
of India. The recommendations were as follows:
a. Make Lokayukta the nodal agency for receiving all corruption complaints
b. Accord Lokayukta jurisdiction over state-level probe agencies
c. Bring bureaucrats under the ambit of the Lokayuktas
d. Accord Lokayukta powers of search and seizure and powers to initiate contempt proceedings
e. Provide Lokayukta administrative and financial autonomy
f. Bring NGOs funded by the government under Lokayukta’s jurisdiction.

4.11.2. Summary
In recent times, we have seen abolition of the office of the Lokayukta in some Indian states. This
should not surprise us, for, if the ombudsman is to do the job for which he is appointed, he is bound to
make enemies among the powerful elites. But he must do his job without fear or favour. What is more
important is that this institution should work independently. The institutions of Lokpal and Lokayuktas
in India must strive to retain their integrity, their moral authority and their utility to citizens in the
country. Although in the context of globalization and privatization, this institution has gained wide
popularity, it must be kept in view that ‘Ombudsman cannot be a panacea. A number of people seem to
regard "Ombudsman" as a kind of magic word that will cure all administrative ills’. The ARC has also
strongly emphasized in its Interim Report on Problems of Redress of Citizen's Grievances that the
setting up of these authorities is not the complete answer to the problem of redress of citizens' griev-
ances. They only provide the ultimate set-up for such redress as has not been available through the
normal departmental or governmental machinery and do not absolve the department from fulfilling its
obligations to the citizen for administering its affairs without generating, as far as possible, any
legitimate sense of grievances. It is in this direction that the administration has to work, and the
responsibility of the departments to deal adequately with public grievance must squarely be faced by
them in the first instance.

4.12. RIGHT TO INFORMATION (RTI)

Right to Information (RTI) is the most effective and accessible mechanism to redress public
grievances. It means the freedom of the people to have access to government information. It implies
that the citizens should have free access to all files and documents pertaining to the government's
working processes. Secrecy in government is fundamentally antidemocratic. The RTI is a key to
strengthening participatory democracy and ushering in people centred governance since access to
information can empower the citizens to demand and get information about public policies and actions,
thereby leading to their welfare. Transparency in government organizations enables citizens to
participate in the governance processes effectively. In a fundamental sense, the RTI is a basic necessity
of good governance. It makes administration responsible to people and increase people’s participation.
It reduces the chance of abuse of authority by public servants and the scope of corruption in public
administration.
Realising the need for transparency in public affairs, the Indian Parliament enacted the Right to
Information Act on 11 May 2005. The Act provides for the proactive disclosure of information,
establishment of the Information Commission, appointment of public information officers, procedures
for getting information, etc. it also includes the right of inspection of the works, records, documents
and copies of records. The information can be sought from any public authority under the central or
state government or institutions controlled or funded by them. It is a path-breaking legislation empow-
ering people and promoting transparency. It provides for the setting up of a practical regime to enable
and empower citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities. The Act
gives citizens the right to request and access information held by the government at different levels,
and places a corresponding duty on the government to provide information proactively and on request.
The Act defines two terms widely- (a) 'information' and (b) ‘public authority’. ‘Information’
means any material in any form including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinion, advices, press
releases, orders, circulars, contrasts, reports, papers, log books, samples, models, data material, kept in
all forms of print and electronic media. ‘Public authority’ means any authority or body or institution of
self government established or constituted: (a) by or under the Constitution, (b) by any other law made
by parliament, (c) by any other law made by the legislature, and (d) by notification issued or made by
any appropriate government, and include any (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed, (ii)
non-government organisations substantially financed, directly or indirectly, by funds provided by the
appropriate government.
The Act covers the whole of India (except the state of Jammu and Kashmir). It specifically gives
to citizens the right to information held by public authorities established, owned, or substantially
financed by the Central government, the state governments, and the administration of the union
territories. This includes the panchayats, municipalities and other local bodies.
The RTI Act lays down the time limit as thirty days for normal applications and forty days where
a third party submission is to be called for. In a novel approach, these time limits are reduced to a mere
48 hours when the information sought 'concerns the life and liberty of a person'. The application fee is
ten rupees per request and no fee is charged from people living below the poverty line. The Act
provides for the appointment of Public Information Officers (PIOs) in all administrative units/offices
and Assistant IPOs to be appointed at each sub-divisional or sub-district level. These provisions are
designed to provide information to persons requesting it. Every PIO can be penalized for not accepting
an application, delaying information without reasonable cause, and providing incomplete, incorrect
and misleading information. Information must be in writing, including by e-mails, and the request
must be submitted to the PIO.
The Act also defines 10 categories of information that are exempted from disclosure because of
their sensitive nature. These are information relating to national security, information given in
confidence by a foreign government, cabinet papers, trade and commercial secrets, the Central
Intelligence Agencies and security agencies like IB, RAW, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence,
Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, special frontier force, BSE, CRPF, ITBP, CISF, etc. are also
excluded from this Act. But information relating to corruption and human rights must be given with
the approval of the Central or State Information Commission, as the case may be.
The Act provides for the establishment of an Information Commission at the Centre and in all
the states. The Information Commission to comprise of a Chief Information Commissioner and ten
Information Commissioners. The Commission can make any order required to bring about compliance
with the law, including releases of documents, appointment of PIOs and the publication of specified
information. The Act says that the Central Chief Information Commissioner will be appointed by a
committee consisting of the Prime Minister, a leader of the opposition and a Union Minister nominated
by the Prime Minister.
The RTI Act, 2005, is one of the most empowering legislations available to the citizens of India.
It can facilitate specific actions to solve existing and emerging problems. The Act should be taken as a
positive approach to improve the machinery of governance at every level. The Act is expected to keep
the civil services active via the feedback of the people. However, it is also to be kept in mind that the
mere conferment of the RTI is not enough. The style of governance must change according to the
needs and requirements. In the context of our present scenario, characterized by lack of political will
and the reluctant attitude of the bureaucracy to recognize people's right to information, the role of civil
society organizations would be crucial and significant in ushering in a new era of open, transparent and
accountable governance. The more these organizations come forward to enlighten and mobilize people
at the grassroots, the more would be the realization of the immense potential of the RTI.

Question

1. Write a note on the importance of Right to Information in the context of India.

2. Write a short note on good governance.
3. Discuss the role of Lokpal in eradicating corruption.
4. Examine the citizen-administration interface in the context of India.
5. Discuss the role of Lokayukta and its limitations.
6. Describe the salient features of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013.

UNIT-5

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION: BUDGET FORMATION AND PERFORMANCE

BUDGETING

5.1. Nature and importance of financial management

No government can perform any activity without money. Finance is the life-blood of a
government. Administration and finance are in fact inseparable. No government can function without
money, even as no car can run without petrol. All administrative acts involve expenditure of money, at
least, for hiring the necessary personnel to carry out the tasks. Without finance, administration cannot
operate. Therefore, Kautilya remarked: “All undertakings depend upon finance. Hence, foremost
attention shall be paid to the treasury.” In the words of L. D. White: “Finance and administration
cannot be divorced. Every administrative act has its financial implications, as inseparable as a man and
his shadow.”
Sound fiscal management is of vital importance to government. As revenue is derived even from
the humblest citizen, it is duty of the government to spend money efficiently and economically.
Unwise financial management makes the people go away from the government thus, endanger the
latter’s existence. In democracy, there should be an urge to evolve sound financial management, for
people tend to identify extravagance and other ill practices with democracy. Unsound financial
administration, thus, may blast the prospects of democracy itself. In the modern times, government
expenditure extraordinarily increased. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to employ sound
principles, tools and techniques of financial administration. The method and style of financial
administration do influence and even condition the socio-economic behaviour of the people. The
budget is the nuts and bolts of public policy.
Financial administration involves operations designed to raise, spend, and account for funds
needed to be expended on public services. These operations are performed by the following agencies:
1. The Executive, which needs funds
2. The Legislature, which alone can grant funds
3. The Finance Department (or, the Treasury in Britain), which controls the expenditure of funds
sanctioned by the Legislature
4. The Audit and Accounts Department
5. Parliamentary Committee
1. Legislature
Legislature exercises the most important control over the public finance. It is the fund-raising and
fund-granting authority. It has the power to levy, abolish, increase or decrease any tax. It is the final
authority to sanction money for expenditure. No tax can be levied or collected and no expenditure can
be incurred by a democratic government except with the approval of the legislature. Main objects of
the control of government expenditure are:
a. a reasonably fair distribution of the total sum which the country can afford to devote to government
expenditure
b. to ensure the money so distributed is used for the purpose for which it was intended and in
accordance with the statutory authority which exist for the expenditure
c. To try to secure full value for the money that is distributed.
In India, the executive demands money from the legislature by presenting the Budget and the
parliament grants it. Legislature performs its functions under executive leadership. All demands for
grants and all proposals for taxation come from the executive and the legislature gives its approval to
these proposals.
2. Executive
The executive branch formulates its work programme for the year, and makes known to the legislature
the annual financial needs of the government. The responsibility of formulating the budget, thus, falls
upon the executive. The executive performs the policy-making function concerning finance, and then
tries to get the approval of the legislature.
3. Finance Department
The Treasury or the Finance Department is always responsible for the entire financial administration of
the country. It is the responsibility of the Finance Ministry to formulate the ‘Annual Financial
statement’ in consultation with other administrative Ministries; after parliamentary approval of the
budget it controls the entire expenditure of the government. The finance department controls and co-
ordinates the various spending departments of the government. It is responsible for the collection of
taxes. It is the duty of this department to prepare the estimates of income and expenditure, i.e., the
annual budget of the government.
4. Audit
After the money has been spent, the entire expenditure is subjected, to the ‘searchlight’ of an
independent audit. ‘Auditing’ is the investigation of, and report on the fidelity, legality and efficiency,
of all financial transactions.’ The audit of public money is conducted by an independent officer, on
behalf of the Legislature. When money has been sanctioned by the legislature, it has to also see that
money is spent economically, legally and honestly. Parliament has to see that money is not misused by
officials. In India, the parliament gets the audit of public money conducted by the Comptroller and
Auditor General.
5. Parliamentary Committees
Once auditing is over, the Comptroller and Auditor General submits his reports to the President who
“shall cause them to be laid before each House of Parliament.” But due to lack of time, Parliament is
unable to look into the complexities of all the accounts of the Central Government and the Auditor
General’s comments on them. In this way, Parliament fails to give adequate consideration to the
economy and efficiency while implementing its policies. Therefore, two Committees have been
constituted—the Public Accounts Committee, and the Estimates Committee. The Public Accounts
Committee examines the public accounts of the Central Government in the light of the audit report of
the Comptroller and Auditor General, and draws the attention of the legislature to financial
irregularities which might have occurred and makes suggestions for preventing them in future.
The Estimates Committee is ‘a continuous Economy Committee’; it suggests economy in
expenditure within the given framework of policy and objectives of government.

5.2. THE BUDGET

Meaning and Definitions
The word ‘Budget’, is derived from the old French word, 'Bougette’ which means ‘a sack or
pouch of leather’, from which the Chancellor of the Exchequer used to take out his papers for laying
before the Parliament the government’s financial scheme for the ensuing year. The term was used in its
present sense for the first time in the year 1733 in a satire entitled ‘Opening the Budget’, pointed
against the Sir Robert Walpole’s financial plan for that year. Since then, the term has been used for a
financial statement. Now, the term ‘Budget’ refers to the financial papers, certainly not to the sack.
Budget has been defined in different ways. Some writers defined it as a mere statement of
estimated revenues and expenditure while, others have made Budget synonymous with Revenue and
Appropriation Acts. Leroy Beaulieu writes: ‘A Budget is a statement of the estimated receipts and
expenses during a fixed period; it is a comparative table giving the amounts of the receipts to be
realized and of the expenses to be incurred; it is furthermore, an authorization or a command given by
the proper authorities to incur the expenses and to collect the revenues”. Rene Stourm defines Budget
as “a document containing a preliminary approved plan of public revenues and expenditures”. Joseph
Pois defines that “Budgeting generally denotes that process by which the financial policy of a public
agency is formulated, enacted and carried out.” While G. Jeze describes Budget as ‘a forecast and an
estimate of all the public receipts and expenses and, for Certain expenses and receipts, an authorization
to incur them and to collect them.” The above definitions have failed to point out some of the
important aspects that are required. The Budget represents the Act of the Administration, and Revenue
Appropriation Acts represent the Act of the Legislature. According to W. F. Willoughby, ‘The Budget,
thus, is something much more than a mere estimate of revenues and expenditures. It is, or should be, at
once a report, an estimate, and a proposal. It is, or should be, the document through which the Chief
Executive comes before the fund-raising and fund granting authority and makes full report regarding
/the manner in which he and his subordinates have administered affairs during the last completed year;
in which he exhibits the present condition of the public treasury; and on the basis of such information,
sets forth his programme of work for the year to come and the manner in which he proposes that such
work should be financed.’ According to one authority, ‘Budgeting generally denotes that process by
which the financial policy of a public agency is formulated, enacted and carried out.’ Thus Budget is a
plan of action. The Budget system can be described as a “systematic method of gathering information
from the past and present, of formulating plans for the future on the basis of this, and of reporting
subsequently how these plans have been carried out.”

5.2.1. IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES OF BUDGET

The Budget is an effective instrument of financial and work management. So, a Budget must conform
to certain budgetary principles. The important Budget principles are: publicity, clarity, comprehen-
siveness, unity, periodicity, accuracy, integrity and reporting.
a. Publicity: The Government Budget passes through various stages, e.g., recommendation of Budget
by the Executive to the Legislature consideration by the Legislature, and administration and
execution of Budget by the various Government Departments. Through these various stages, Budget
should be made public. There should be no secret sessions of the Legislature to consider the Budget.
Publicity of the Budget is essential, so that the people and the press of the country may express
views concerning various taxes or schemes of expenditure.
b. Clarity: The Budget should be framed in such a way as to be clearly understandable.
c. Comprehensiveness: The entire fiscal programme of the Government should be assembled and
summarized in Budget. It should give a complete picture of Government revenues and expenditures.
It should clearly state whether any new debts or borrowings are to be incurred by the Government.
Receipts and appropriations should be expressed in detailed specifications. Through Budget, one
should be able to know the entire financial position of the Government.
d. Unity: All Government receipts should be consolidated into one general fund for financing all
expenditures.
e. Periodicity: There should be a fixed period for which appropriations should be authorized. If money
is not utilized within that period, it should either lapse, or should be reappropriated. Generally
Budget grants are on an annual basis. The Budget should be passed by Legislature, keeping all
foreseeable needs in view, in advance of the period during which expenditure is to be made, e.g., if
the annual year begins on April 1, it will be convenient if Legislature approves the expenditure
before April 1.
f. Accuracy: Accuracy and reliability of Budget estimates is essential for any sound financial system.
The information on which Budget estimates are based must be sufficiently accurate, detailed, and
pertinent to permit intelligent evaluation. There should be no intentional under estimating of
revenues or concealment of facts. Undue under-estimation of revenues and over-estimation of
expenditure would distort the budgetary outlook.
g. Integrative type: It means that fiscal programme should be carried out substantially as provided, in
Budget. If the Budget is not executed as it is enacted, there is no point in having a Budget.
h. Reporting: Budgetary processes like preparation of estimates, legislative action and the budget
execution must be based on full financial and operating reports coming from all levels of
administration. “Budgeting without such reporting is blind and arbitrary.”
Thus, Budget should follow the above-mentioned principles if it is to fulfil the purposes for
which it is meant i.e., honest and efficient financial administration.

5.2.2. TYPES OF BUDGET

There are three types of Budget. They are: (a) Legislative type, (b) Executive type, (c) Board or
Commission type.
a. Legislative type: When Budget is prepared by a Committee of Legislature, on the request of
Executive, it is known as Legislative type Budget. This type of Budget strengthens the importance
 of Legislature vis-a-vis Executive. Legislature prepares the Budget and approves it. But it is
considered very doubtful whether Legislature is competent enough to prepare the Budget because
the requirements of the various departments can best be known only by the Executive.
b. Executive type: In this system Budget is prepared by Executive; and after it has been approved by
the Legislature, responsibility for its execution lies with the Executive. This is the commonly
accepted principle of Budget preparation and execution. ‘Finance Ministry’ in India is the agency
responsible for preparation of the budget.
c. The Board or Commission type: in this type, Budget is formulated by a Board or a Commission
which may consist of wholly administrative officers or of administrative and legislative officers
jointly. This system is’ in use in some States of America and in some Municipal Governments. The
purpose of this arrangement may be either to associate the more important of the independent
administrative officers with the Chief Executive in the formulation of Budget or to surround the
Chief Executive with a Board so constituted as to restrict his influence on financial planning.

In modern times the Executive type Budget is vogue. It is felt rightly that the Executive is the
best judge of the requirements of the various spending agencies, so it should prepare the estimates of
income and expenditure, and submit its financial plan to the Legislature. The Executive Budget is
prepared by experts, and in almost all countries some special agency is provided to help the Chief
Executive in the preparation of Budget. In India, the Finance Department is the expert agency which
prepares the Budget on behalf of the Executive.

5.3. PERFORMANCE BUDGETING

Introduction
Performance budgeting is a system of planning, budgeting and evaluation that emphasizes the
relationship between money budgeted and results expected. It focuses on the work and activities of an
organisation and analyzes the activity. It is a tool of management devised to measure the effectiveness
of an organisation.
The term ‘Performance Budgeting’ was first used by the First Hoover Commission (1949) in its
report on budgeting and accounting. In India, it was first mentioned by the Lok Sabha in 1954, during
the debates on the Finance Ministries control over expenditure.
It has been suggested by some that the parliament should have some machinery to evaluate the
expenditure sanctioned to various Departments in the Budget. This evaluation should be done to see
whether the, objectives for which money was sanctioned and sent have been really achieved.
Performance Budgeting has been recommended for Railways and other Government Commercial and
Industrial Enterprises. Budgetary grants are spent to achieve the purposes and objectives laid down by
the Legislature. Review of expenditures has to be made to see whether results have been achieved
within time limit and at minimum cost and maximum economy in expenditure.
The Deputy Minister of Finance was skeptical about this idea and listed five conditions as
necessary before undertaking performance budgeting satisfactorily. He observed: (i) it would be
necessary to have a system of advance programming of Government operation on a long-term basis,
(ii) the “end results” of the programme must be measurable, (iii) the outlay shown in. the Budget
should represent the entire costs, (iv) the programme should be administered by the Budgeting
authority, and (v) the total outlay should be capable of allocation between fixed and variable costs. He
concluded, ‘These requirements.....can be satisfied only to a limited extent and it is doubtful if all the
assessment can be synchronized with the preparation of the Budget documents.”
Some kind of performance Budgeting can be attempted. The Committee on Plan Projects can
conduct studies for securing economy and efficiency in the execution of the Plan Projects. The
Administrative Reforms Commission, in its Report on Finance, Accounts and Audit
(1968)’recommended the introduction of Performance Budgeting by the department which is in direct
charge of development programmes.
The performance Budget documents should be preferred in the following manner. A programme
and activity classification should be made for each department or organisation selected for the purpose
of Performance Budgeting. Besides presenting the financial needs of those programmes and activities,
expenditure should be classified in terms of “object”, e.g., “Establishment.” This should be followed
by a narrative explanation justifying the financial requirements under each activity. This explanation
should include information on targets, achievements, relevant workload factors, comparative
performance over the years etc. All this will constitute the performance Budget. It should be
accompanied by the demands for grants which will continue to serve as the medium through which
appropriation control is exercised.’ For the year 1968-69 performance budgeting has been introduced
in certain departments of the Government of India.

5.4. MERITS OF PERFORMANCE BUDGETING

Performance budgeting serves many useful purposes and fulfils many short coming of line item
budget. Its popularity is increasing as a tool of fiscal management and policy in modern financial
administration.
1. It is possible to establish possible linkages between policy and performance, inputs and out puts the
physical financial aspects of governmental programmes and activities.
2. It would improve upon the budgetary process and related fiscal policy-making coupled with the
analysis of the actual government performance.
3. It would help to evolve a better system of financial accountability and legislative control.
4. It would facilitate the process of audit of government operations.
5. It would make effective result oriented assessment of the long-term development policies of the
government.
6. It would be the innovator of far reaching reforms in financial administration.
7. It would help to eliminate waste and inefficiency in the financial transaction of the government
makes budget direction-oriented and more development motivated.
8. It fixes responsibilities very precisely besides giving a clear picture of revenue and expenditure
alternative.

Limitations of Performance Budgeting

1. It enables only a quantitative and financial evaluation of programmes and activities.
2. Its usefulness in somewhat limited in respect of utilising that are not measurable in any precise
manner such as research, police, law and order, etc
3. Its success depends upon well organised departments and agencies identifiable with programmes
and activities.

5.5. BUDGETARY PROCEDURES

After discussing the essentials of Budget System, let us discuss the various phases through which
a Budget has to pass.
a. Preparation of Estimates: The Chief Executive decides his financial policy. Based on this, estimates
are prepared. Budget preparation starts from the lowest level. Various administrative agencies
prepare their estimates based on the instructions given by the Chief Executive. These estimates are
then examined and scrutinized by Division Chief, Department Heads and then officers of the
Treasury or the Finance Department. After many meetings and discussions, the proposed
expenditure is consolidated into a single document, which may be again discussed by the Finance
Department and the Chief Executive. In the final analysis the estimates are the handiwork of the
Executive Department like the Treasury or Department of Finance.
b. Legislative Approval of the Budget:
After the Budget has been prepared, it is submitted to the legislature, with a request for approval. In
the Legislature, the Budget is discussed in two parts. First the expenditure side is discussed, and then
the revenues are discussed. Legislature, as the fund-raising and fund-granting authority, has the final
voice in matters of finance. After the Budget has been discussed by the legislature, two separate Bills
are passed- Appropriation Bill and Revenue Bill. Appropriation Bill is a legal authorization to spend
money and Revenue Bill gives authority to impose and collect taxes. After these two Bills are passed
by the Legislature, the Chief Executive gives his assent. With this, the important phase of the Budget,
that is, approval by the Legislature comes to an end.
Thus, a Budget which has been approved by the Legislature gives authority to the Executive to
spend money on particular items as specified by the Legislature.
Question

1. What are the different types of budget? Examine the significance of any one type of budget.
2. What is performance budgeting? Discuss the significance of budgeting.
3. What is budget? Describe the important principles of budget.

UNIT-6
NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND ITS DIMENSIONS
Introduction
There has always been a controversy about the nature, scope, contents and ends of public
administration. This controversy continued till the 20 th century when new changes began to creep in. It
was recognised that administrative process is permeated with politics i.e., with manipulation of power
and formulation of policy. Secondly, it came to be held that public administration as a science should
be concerned with factual analysis or value analysis. Thirdly, the goals of efficiency and economy
were replaced by the goal of social efficiency. Fourthly, an interdisciplinary study has given better
insight into the social behaviour which has been responsible for a new orientation in the study of
public administration. Fifthly, the psychological and sociological approach to public administration
has revealed the inner springs and motivations of administrative behaviour and process. Lastly, the
philosophical concepts of pragmatism and logical positivism have influenced the study of public
administration.
As a result of the above trends, fresh ground was broken in the study of public administration
and a new term ‘New Public Administration’ gathered currently. The major landmarks in the growth
and emergence of New Public Administration are:
1. The Honey Report on Higher Education for Public Services, 1967, in USA.
2. The Philadelphia Conference on the Theory and Practice of Public Administration, 1967, in USA.
3. The Minnowbrook Conference, 1968, in USA.
4. Publication of Toward a New Public Administration: The Minnowbrook Perspective, edited by
Frank Marini, 1971.
5. Publication of Public Administration in a Time of Turbulence, edited by Dwight Waldo, 1971.

6.1. THE HONEY REPORT ON HIGHER EDUCATION FOR PUBLIC SERVICE- 1967
In 1966, Prof. John C. Honey of the Syracuse University undertook an evaluative study of Public
Administration as an academic discipline in the U.S. Universities. The Honey Report, submitted in
1967 is significant in the sense that it disclosed the true state of health of the discipline of Public
Administration. It identified four problems confronting the subject which needed immediate action.
1. Insufficient resources at disposal of the discipline (students, faculty and research funds).
2. Intellectual argument over the status of the discipline: Is it a discipline, a science, or profession?
3. Institutional weakness (inadequacy of public administration departments).
4. Gap between scholars of public administration and the practising administrators.
The Honey Report suggested that the scope of the study of subject should be broadened and it
should be linked with the governmental processes. With this view, the report made eleven
recommendations. They are:

1. A National Commission for Public Service Education to be established to exert broad leadership
in meeting the needs of governments for educated manpower.
2. A fellowship programme for post-graduate students who are preparing for public service at the
master and doctoral levels and also including preparation for professional degrees.
3. Internship programmes to operate at federal, state, and local levels for post-graduate students and
advanced undergraduates preparing for public service careers.
4. A special programme for those planning to become teachers in schools and programmes of public
administration and public affairs.
5. A programme to provide opportunities for practical governmental experience to university faculty
engaged in public affairs teaching and research.
6. A programme of assistance to universities for public affairs, curricular experimentation and
development.
7. Support for university personnel engaged in research on governmental and public affairs issues.
8. Support from federal state, and local governments, as well as from private industry, for the
provision of facilities to schools and programmes of public administration and public affairs.
9. The establishment of an advisory service for new public affairs programmes and the development
of personnel rosters to provide current information on experienced graduates of schools of public
administration and public affairs.
10. It recommended that a study of the universities and education for public service be undertaken, the
purposes to show how various types of institutions now approach their public service, educational and
other tasks and to identify stimulative and innovative development as well as deficiencies and
problems.
11. The second major and closely associated research proposal was for a study of the professions,
professional education and the public service.
The Honey Report aroused interest as well as controversy in the United States. It said nothing
about the role of Public Administration in a strife-torn tumultuous society of the period. The Report
induced many scholars to think deeply about its place and role in the society and thus it acted as a
catalyst in encouraging discussion on its adequacy in solving societal problems.

6.2. THE PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE ON THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION- 1967
Believing that there have been some rapid developments in the field and that a new synthesis or
selective appraisal would be currently useful, the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences
organised a conference in Philadelphia in December 1967, to discuss on the topic: ‘The Theory and
Practice of Public Administration; Scope, Objectives and Methods.” James C. Charlesworth was the
chairman of the conference. In this conference, participants expressed varied views. Public
Administration was viewed as an academic discipline, as a field exercise, and as a profession. Some
defined Public Administration as administration in the ‘Public Interest’ while others made it
conterminous with ‘Governmental Administration’. There was thus no agreed definition of Public
Administration but there emerged a broad consensus on the following points:

1. Definition of the subject is as difficult as delineation of its scope.

2. The policy-administration dichotomy is erroneous.
3. American Public Administration as a discipline should deal restrictively with US public
administration.
4. Bureaucracy should be studied functionally as well as structurally.
5. Public Administration and Business Administration training should not be combined since they
are similar only in unimportant aspects.
6. Public Administration as a profession should remain separate from the profession and discipline of
political science.
7. Normative administrative theory as well as descriptive analytic theory in Public Administration is
in a state of confusion.
8. A hierarchical view of organizational authority is no longer appropriate; administrators must view
workers as ‘coordinates’ rather than ‘subordinates’.
9. Policy and political considerations are replacing management concern as the major focus of Public
Administration.
10. Future administrators should be trained in professional schools; public administration curricula
should emphasize not only administrative organization and procedures but also an interdisciplinary
approach.
11. Public Administration has not been able to deal with societal problems. Public Administration
theory “has not caught up with emerging problems, like the huge military industrial complex, riots,
labour unions and strikes, public school conflicts, slums, the impingement of science, and developing
countries.”
Public Administration is a discipline but it cannot employ all the methodologies of the
contemporary social science. Parts of Public Administration are capable of using scientific methods,
others, which are the most important parts of the discipline are not amenable to scientific treatment.

6.3. THE MINNOWBROOK CONFERENCE- 1968

The genesis of the Minnowbrook Conference lay in two factors- First, the 1960s was a turbulent
period besieged by numerous societal problems, but Public Administration showed no signs of being
aware of them, much less being serious to solve them. This was well highlighted by Waldo’s article on
'Public Administration in a Time of Turbulence', published in Public Administration Review in 1968.
Secondly, there was a need to hear young scholars and practitioners of the discipline as public
administration was facing a kind of generation gap. The Minnowbrook Conference was the youth
conference on Public Administration and it was this academic get-together which gave rise to what has
come to be known as ‘New Public Administration’. According to many, New Public Administration
was the product of New Left Caucus in action.
The first Minnowbrook conference was held in 1968 at Minnowbrook, Syracuse University.
Fifty young scholars, under age 35, were gathered by Dwight Waldo to “redefine the focuses of Public
Administration Theory.” The conference marked the beginning of the ‘New Public Administration’.
The arguments were presented in the famous proceedings “Towards a New Public Administration: The
Minnowbrook Perspective.”
 The keynote of New Public Administration is an intense sensitivity to and concern for the
societal problems of the day. Its parameters are relevance, post positivism, morals, ethics, values,
innovation, concern for clients, social equality, etc. New Public Administration is, to quote Dwight
Waldo, “some sort of movement in the direction of normative theory, philosophy, social concern and
activism”. The proponents of New Public Administration express their dissatisfaction with the state of
the discipline of Public Administration and want it to be alive to problems presented by the ‘turbulent
times’. The advocacy for a post-positive approach emphasized the need to abandon value-free and
value neutral research and instead to cultivate an approach emphasizing social equity. Social equity
means that public administrators should become champions of the under-privileged sections of the
society. This implies that they must become active agents of change and non-believers in status quo.
New forms of organization need to be carved out to suit the fast-changing environment. Emphasis is
placed on cultivation of client-loyalty and programme-loyalty. The four basic themes of New Public
Administration are relevance, values, social equity and change. Ethics is most emphasised in New
Public Administration.

6.4. THE SECOND MINNOWBROOK CONFERENCE- 1988

Minnowbrook II was held in September, 1988, at Syracuse University. Minnowbrook II was
spearheaded by George Frederickson. The conference was funded by three Universities-The Syracuse
University, The University of Kansus and The University of Akron. Sixty scholars of Policy Sciences
i.e., History, Economics, Sociology, Political Science and Public Administration attended this
conference. The Conference produced several papers and published a book entitled—“Public
Management in an Inter Connected World: Essay in the Minnowbrook Tradition.”
The discussions and debates continued to challenge the status quo of the Public Administration
research and practice. According to George Frederickson, Minnowbrook I was contentious,
confrontational and revolutionary while Minnowbrook II was more civil, more practical and more
perceptive to the contributions of the social and behavioural sciences, to Public Administration.
Minnowbrooks sought to establish its identity by focusing on the current and future vision of the
field of public administration. However, the Minnowbrook II conference included many of the themes
and areas of the Minnowbrook I. But, both the conferences shared concern for the state of the
discipline of public administration. This ensured continuity in thinking.

6.5. MINNOWBROOK CONFERENCE III- 2008

The Third Minnowbrook Conference was held in September, 2008. The conference was held to
commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original conference of 1968. This conference was spear
headed by Prof. Rosemary O’Leary, a distinguished Professor at Syracuse University. Minnowbrook
III was also held at the Syracuse University’s Minnowbrook Conference Centre at Adirondack
Mountains.
The organizers gather ‘50young' scholars to discuss on the theme, ‘The Future of Public
Administration, Public Management and Public Service around the World.' It consisted of two phases.
A book reflecting the best outcomes of Minnowbrook Conference III was produced. The book
was edited by Prof. Rosemary O’Leary, David Van Slyke and Soonhee Kim, all professors from
Syracuse University and published in 2010. The Minnowbrook Conferences may rightly be credited
with the honour of having produced the first coherent grammar of New Public Administration. It was
this Conference which expressed, very loudly, and clearly the dissatisfaction with the state of the
discipline. It was the first one which sought to give a new image to Public Administration—a subject
actively concerned with the problems of the society and full of reformist intentions.

6.6. PUBLICATION OF BOOKS OF MARINI AND WALDO- 1971

 The Minnowbrook ideas found wider circulation through the above mentioned two works edited
by Marini and Waldo respectively. Marini’s ‘Toward a New Public Administration: The Minnowbrook
Perspective’, is the first published work on New Public Administration and is thus a pioneer in the
area. Dwight Waldo’s ‘Public Administration in a Time of Turbulence’ carries forward the
Minnowbrook idea. At the 1969 annual conference of the American Political Science Association, a
series of panel discussions were organized by him. Waldo’s work includes the papers presented at the
conference.

6.7. GOALS OF NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The literature on new public administration lays emphasis on six major themes. They are
relevance, values, management-worker relations, change, client-focus and social equity.
1. Relevance: Public administration has traditionally been interested in efficiency and economy. The
demand of new public administration was to clearly deal with the political and administrative
implications of administrative action. It demands meaningful studies that are oriented toward the
realities of social life. In this matter, some important questions raised at Minnowbrook were:
a. Which questions ought to be studied and now to study them?
b. Who defines our questions and priorities for us?
c. To what extent are we aware of the social and moral implications of public administrative
action?
d. What arc the uses of public administration as a social and political science?
e. Does public administration presently yield knowledge useful to certain institution in society and
not to others?
2. Values: The new public administration rejects the value—neutral stand taken by the management-
oriented public administration. It makes clear that the new movement advocate openness about the
values being served through administrative action. As stated by Frederickson, the new public
administration should be less ‘generic’ and more ‘public’, less ‘descriptive’, and more ‘prescriptive’,
less ‘institution-oriented’ and more ‘client-impact-oriented’, less ‘neutral’, and more ‘normative’, and
no less ‘scientific’.
3. Management-Worker Relations: The New Public Administration emphasises on good and cordial
relations between the management and workers. There should be equal emphasis both on efficiency
and humane considerations for management and workers in order to achieve success.
4. Change: Mohit Bhattacharya rightly says, “to serve the cause of social equity is to actively work for
social change. This is the motto of new public administration. The attack is on the status-quo and
against the powerful interests entrenched in permanent institutions. The Minnowbrook participants
explored ways of institutionalising change and remedying the bureaucratic tendencies of big
organizations.” The new public administration emphasizes that the public officials should become
active agents of social change and non-believers in status-quo. It suggests innovations in
administrative machinery for bringing about social transformation. It also advised that operational
flexibility and organisational adaptability to meet the environment changes should be in built in the
administrative system.
5. Client-focus: The New Public Administration advocates a client focused approach. It stresses not
only on providing goods and services to the clients but also giving them a voice in how, when and
what is to be provided. It requires positive, proactive and responsive administrators rather than
authoritarian and “ivory-tower” bureaucrats.
6. Social Equity: According to new public administration, realization of social equity should be the
objective of public administration. Social equity means that public administration should become
champions of the under privileged sections of the society. Programmes should be administered to
protect and promote the interests of the poor. The purpose of public action should be the reduction of
economic and social disparities and the enhancement of life opportunities for all the social groups
inside and outside the organization.

6.8. Features of new public administration

In his writings, George Frederickson has summarised the main features of the new approach to
public administration. According to him, social equity is the key concept stressed as an additional
administrative value by the advocates of the new approach. He even titled one of his books as ‘New
Public Administration’.
According to him, the various features of the new public administration are as stated below:
1. Change and Administrative Responsiveness
Rapid changes are taking place in the social, political, economic and technological environments.
Therefore, Administrative organisations should develop clear criteria in order to make their decisions
and actions effective and relevant in the changing context. An appropriate device and procedure to
effect appropriate change regularly should be set up, so as to be responsive to the environment. In
other words, organisational and operational flexibility or adaptability to meet environmental changes
should be in built in the administrative system and in each of its departments and agencies.
2. Rationality
In public administration, there is a good deal of emphasis on rationality as the main criterion for
administrative decisions and actions. But this rationality really refers to the rationality of the
administrator and not to rationality as people would interpret it. The administrator needs to consult the
citizens not only about what is proposed to be done, but also about what ought to be done and by
whom.
3. Management-Worker Relations
It is true that human relations approach within an : administrative organisation enhances both morale
and productivity (efficiency) among employees, but these are not to be end in themselves. The main
objective should be the satisfaction of the citizens with the performance and attitudes of the
administrative employees whose morale and productivity would have risen due to any human relations
approach within an organisation.
4. Structures
There is a need for adopting a dynamic approach to organisational structure so that the structure
becomes relevant to the changing needs of environment. Appropriate decentralisation of authority and
modification of hierarchies of control and subordinates need continuous review. In other words, there
should be alternative structures to be chosen from the above inventory of organisations rather than one
standardised organisational structure based upon POSDCoRB or other principles.
5. Education in Public Administration
The subject of public administration has been enriched by several streams of knowledge (concepts,
ideas and insights). Heterogeneity is characteristic of this subject. The management approach, the
human relations approach, political approach and public participative or choice approach continue to
contribute to its growth. This is how it should be, since public affairs, in which the government is
engaged, are highly varied and complex, no single approach or theory or conception is adequate to
guide action or understand its rationale.
Robert Golemiewski has illustrated five features of new Public Administration. They are as
follows:
1. It implies a view of mankind as being substantially malleable and potentially perfective. In its
vision people are in the process of becoming and growing. This view contrasts with that of people
as a constant factor of production.
2. Its main theme is the demand for relevance. It stresses the central role of personal and
organizational values or ethics.
3. It advocates social equity as the most common vehicle for guiding the task of human development.
Administrative value-neutrality is neither possible nor desirable.
4. It is determinedly rational as against the classical public administration’s emphasis on organizations
and their internal processes.
5. It places a definite emphasis on innovation and change.

Dwight Waldo identified three features of new public administration namely:

a. Client-oriented bureaucracy
b. Representative bureaucracy
c. People’s participation in administration.

6.9. CRITICISM
New Public Administration has been criticised on various grounds. Campbell argues that “it
differs from the old public administration only in what it is responsive to a different set of societal
problems from those of other periods.” Robert T. Golembiewski considers it as a temporary or
transitional phenomena and thought that wisdom might be too simple to allow its memory to further
fade away. Carter and Duffey doubts, “whether the social equity is actually getting recognised as an
established objective of public administration, apart from the prevailing objectives of efficiency,
effectiveness and accountability.” The critics opine that the protagonists of new public administration
are trying to claim what actually fails within the legitimate sphere of political institutions, political
processes and political leadership. Further, there is lack of skills and technologies to implement what
new public administration visualises. The concept of social equity is vague. On the other hand,
opinions vary greatly about what it means and what it requires in public programmes. The new public
administration has not yet developed a theory of its own.
In spite of the above criticisms and limitations, no doubt, the contributions of New Public
Administration are worth to be mentioned. In the words of Nigro and Nigro, “the new public
administration has seriously jolted the traditional concept and outlook of the discipline and enriched
the subject by importing a wide perspective and by linking it closely to the society. Further, it has
certainly broken fresh ground and imported new substance to the discipline of public administration.
What is new in it is the advocacy of social equality role recommended for the administrator.”
Rumki Basu observes that “due to the study and practice of Public Administration in both
developed and developing countries, the trends indicate that the scope of the study of the subject has
increased considerably. It is no longer confined to the description and analysis of administrative
phenomena, policies, organizations and process. It is becoming normative as it now deals with
questions of social equity orientation, democratic orientation, ethical behaviour and citizens
participation within expanding administrative systems. It is also becoming comparative as it now
examines and conceptualises administrative policies and organizations and operations comprising
several aspects—political, social, economic, demographic, physical and technological.”

Question
1. What is New Public Administration? Examine the background for the emergence of New
Public Administration.
2. Explain the features of New Public Administration.
3. Discuss the contributions of New Public Administration.
REFERENCES
1. Indian Administration by Bidyut Chakraborty and Prakash Chand
2. Indian Administration by Radhakrishan Sapru
3. Public Administration by C.P.Bhambhri
4. Public Administration by Dr. Amreshwar Avasthi and Dr. Shriram Maheshwari
5. Public Administration (Concepts and theories) by Rumki Basu
6. Public Administration by S. Mawon
7. Public Administration by Deepak Swain

UNIVERSITY QUESTIONS
2018
(October)
POLITICAL SCIENCE
(Honours)
(Public Administration)
(Psc-06.3)
Marks: 75
Time: 3 hours
The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions
Answer any five questions
1. Define Public Administration and examine its scope. 5+10=15
2. Discuss the contributions and criticisms of Elton Mayo’s human relations approach. 10+5=15
3. What is recruitment? Examine the merits and demerits of indirect recruitment. 5+5+5=15
4. Examine the politics-administration interface in the context of India. 15
5. Discuss the role of Lokpal in eradicating corruption.15
6. What is New Public Management? Examine the main features of New Public Management.
5+10=15
7. What is performance budgeting? Discuss the significance of budgeting. 5+10=15
8. Define New Public Administration and examine its main features. 5+10=15
9. Examine the contributions and limitations of F. W. Taylor’s scientific management approach.
10+5=15
10. Write short notes on any three of the following: 5x3=15
a. Good Governance
b. Morale in Public Administration
c. Right to Information (RTI)
d. POSDCORB
e. Significance of Public Administration

2019
(October)
POLITICAL SCIENCE (Honours) (Psc-06.3)
(Public Administration)
Marks: 75 Time: 3 hours
The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions
 Answer any five questions
1. Define Public Administration and examine its scope and significance. 5+10=15
2. Examine the contributions and limitations of F. W. Taylor’s scientific management theory. 15
3. What is morale? Examine the importance of morale in Public Administration. 5+10=15
4. Write a critical note on the importance of Right to Information in the context of India. 15
5. What are the different types of budget? Examine the significance of any one type of budget.
5+10=15
6. What is Good Governance? Examine the main features of good governance. 5+10=15
7. Examine the contributions and limitations of Fred Riggs’ ecological approach. 15
8. Discuss the role of Lokayukta and its limitations. 15
9. What is New Public Administration? Examine the background for the emergence of New Public
Administration. 5+10=15
10. Write short notes on any three of the following: 5x3=15
a. Politics-Administration Interface
b. Contributions of New Public Management
c. Human Relations Approach
d. Merits of Direct Recruitment

MODEL ANSWER
Q. Define Public Administration and examine its scope and significance.
Public Administration is a newly emerged discipline compare to other Social Sciences discipline.
It is an important part of society. Public Administration performs different functions in society. It is of
pivotal importance in developing countries like India, which are engaged in efforts to lift themselves
from a backward state to a level of general happiness and prosperity. Public administration is the
instrument of change and development.
The word public administration is the combination of two words—public and administration.
The word ‘Public’ originated from Latin word POPULUS, meaning ‘people’ and the word
‘Administration’ derived from the old Latin word ADMINISTRARE, meaning, ‘rule of service of the
state’. Thus Public Administration means “rule of the state for people”. In simple, it means
governmental administration. It is the study of the management of the public agencies that carry out
public policies in order to fulfill the state purposes in the public interest. It refers to an activity with
which the government is involved. So it can be said that the word public administration has got more
significance in the background of government functions.
Leonard D. White, “PA consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfillment or
enforcement of public policy as declared by the competent authority.”
Salam, Lokmal & Nazrul, “a system of PA is the composite of all the laws, regulations, practice,
relationships, codes and customs that prevail at any time in any jurisdiction for the fulfillment of
execution of public policy.”
Woodrow Wilson, “PA is a detailed and systematic application of the law. Every particular application
of the law is an act of administration.”
Ali Ashraf, “the administration is concerned with the ‘What’ and ‘How’ of government. The ‘what’ is
the subject matter, the technical knowledge of a field, which enables the administrator to perform his
tasks and the ‘how’ is the technique of management, the principles according to which co-operative
programmes are carried to success.”
Luther Gullick, “Public Administration is that part of the science of administration which has to do
with government, and thus concerns itself primarily with the executive branch, where the work of
government is done, though there are obviously administrative problems also in connection with the
legitimate and judicial branch.”
Carson & Harris, “Public Administration is the action part of government, the means by which the
purpose and goals of government are realized.”
Herbert Simone, “By Public Administration it meant, in common as usage, the activity of the executive
branches of the national, state and local government.”
Pfiffner, “Administration consist of getting the work of government done by coordinating the efforts of
people so that they can work together to accomplish their said task.”
The traditional definitions given above reflect the view that Public Administration comprises
those activities that are involved in carrying out the policies and programmes of governments. It is
regarded as the coordination of collective efforts to implement public policies as expressed in laws and
interpreted by courts. The traditional view identifies public administration with the administrative side
of government as opposed to the legislative and judicial side. It presents a formalistic picture of public
administration.
Modern writers of today used the term Public Administration in a broader sense: having some
responsibilities in determining governmental policies and programmes as well as executing them.
Some writers like F.A.Nigro are of the opinions that all three branches of government are part of the
study and practice of Public Administration.

Scope of Public Administration

The scope of Public administration can be discussed under the following two headings-
3. The POSDCORB View
4. The Subject-matter View

The POSDCORB View of Public Administration

This is a narrow view of public administration. It takes into account only the executive branch of
the government. It corresponds with the managerial view. The supporters of this view are Henry Fayol,
L. Urwick, Fercey M. Queen and Luther Gulick
According to Henry Fayol the main categories of administration are: Planning, Organising, Command,
Co-ordinating and Control. L, Urwick fully supports Fayol’s views. P.M. Queen says that the study of
administration deals with “Men, Materials and Methods.” Luther Gulick sums up the techniques in the
word ‘POSDCORB’, each letter of which describe one technique. These letters stand for
P- Planning, O- Organising, S- Staffing, D- Directing, Co- Co-ordinating, R- Reporting and B-
Budgeting
Planning means working out in broad outline the things that need to be done, the method to be adopted
to accomplish the purpose set for the enterprise.
Organising means the establishment of the formal structure of authority through which the work is
sub-divided, arranged, defined and coordinated for the defined objective.
Staffing stands for appointment of officials in organisation, training the staff and maintaining
favourable conditions of work.
Directing means making decisions and issuing orders, instructions and thus guiding the enterprise.
Co-ordinating means inter-relating the work of various divisions, sections and all the different parts of
work of the organisation.
Reporting means keeping the higher officials informed about the work performed. It is the inspection
by which the higher officer receives information about the work done at the lower levels of
organisation.
Budgeting stands for all that goes with budgeting in the form of fiscal planning, accounting and
control.
POSDCORB activities are common to all organisations. They are common problems of management
which are found in the different agencies regardless of the peculiar nature of the work they do. But
POSDCORB view takes into consideration only the common techniques of administration and ignores
the study of the subject-matter with which an agency is concerned. Therefore, Lewis Merriam
criticised the POSDCORB view.

The Subject-matter View of Public Administration

The subject-matter view of public administration has come into reckoning in the reaction to the
POSDCORB view. This view comprises line functions or services meant for the people. They include
law and order, defense, social security, public health, etc. these services have specialised techniques of
their own, which are not covered by the POSDCORB activities.
Pfiffner has divided the scope of public administration into two heads
c) Principles of Public Administration
d) Sphere of Public Administration
In the first category, public administration covers the organisation, management of personnel,
methods and procedure, material and supply, public finance and administrative responsibility. In the
second category, the sphere of public administration includes the central and state government, its
regional and local authorities and also public corporations. Thus, in the words of Pfiffner, “Public
Administration, in sum, includes the totality of government activity, encompassing expertise of endless
variety and the techniques of organisation and management whereby order and social purpose are
given to the efforts of vast numbers,”
Walker has given a more comprehensive account of the scope of public administration. He has
divided it into two parts: Administrative Theory and Applied Administration.
Thus, it is obvious that though Public Administration studies the administrative branch of the
executive organ, yet its scope is very wide and it varies with people’s conception of good life.

Importance of Public Administration

In a modern democratic welfare State, the Government has to provide many services for the
welfare of its citizens. It includes the provision of schooling, medical facilities and social security
measures. With the breakdown of joint families, the problem of looking after the old and infants,
orphans and widows comes up. With the slowing of economic activity, the problem of unemployed
youth crops up. The development process brings up many new problems like those of urban slums and
juvenile delinquents. The welfare State has to identify these problems and devise solutions for them.
The formulation of these schemes and their implementation is another significant function of public
administration. The public administration is thus not only a protector of citizens from external dangers
or internal disorders, but has become the greatest provider of various services. The welfare of the
people depends very much on the way the public administration functions. No wonder today’s state
has been called an “Administrate State”. Prof. V.V. Donham has rightly said, “If our civilization fails,
it will be mainly because of administration”. Woodrow Wilson suggested that the objective of
administrative study is to discover what government can properly and successfully do and how it can
do efficiently with the least possible cost either of money or of energy.
The importance of the role of Public Administration in the modern state is steadily increasing.
The functions of state keep on expanding due to the increasing complexities of societies. This led to
‘how’ and in ‘what’ directions the functions should be effectively performed. As the society becomes
complex and advanced, its public administration, too, becomes crucial significance.
The importance of Public Administration can be studied under the following points:
20. Public Administration is the part of the social, cultural and economic life of a nation. No state can
exist without administration. Prof. Waldo remarked, “it is a part of the cultural complex and is not only
is acted upon, but acts.” Lack of sound administration may bring our civilization into pieces.
21. Public Administration is an integral part of a society and also is a great instrument of social
change and improvement. The functions of public administration is now engaged in looking after
numerous needs of human life such as, health, education, recreation, sanitation, social security, etc. It
relates to the whole society. It is the chief agent of social change.
22. Public Administration plays a very important role in the lives of the people. Therefore, its teaching
should be a part of the curriculum of educational institutions to prepare the people into better
administrators to build the nation.
23. Public Administration is a great stabilizing force in the society as it provides stability in society.
When government changes either due to revolution or by election or coups, public administration
provides continuity to the government.
24. It provides several services such as education, health, housing, social security, and a lot more.
Without public administration, the services that are provided by the government can never reach to the
people.
25. The government makes the laws and policies for the people. It is public administration that puts
them in reality.
26. It is an instrument for sustainable development where economic development takes place without
harming the environment. Administrators play a very important role for protecting the environment.
Through public administration, all the environmental issues are solved.
27. It develops the community. When people belonging to different races and religions live together, it
becomes difficult to make a policy that can be applied effectively. Public administration gathers
information about the different communities and thus, helps the government to make policy that can be
applied to the different communities.
28. Public Administration is playing an important role in developing countries, like India, that are
making efforts to lift themselves from a state of poverty. The progress of such country depends upon
the quality of its public administration.
29. Public administration provides services like police and medical services that make citizens secure.
Without it, we can never be safe.
30. At present, the government is expected to provide various services. The increase in the number of
functions undertaken by the government requires highly specialised, professional and technical
services.
To sum up, Public Administration is the first need of a society. It provides us all the essential
services that we need. Its goal is to protect the public interest. Administration is an integral part of each
organised activity.

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