Stressing on the need to introduce social audit in Civil Services, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said corruption continues to affect service delivery and public welfare measures in the avenue.
Inaugurating a State-level workshop organised jointly by Kerala NGO Union and Kerala Gazetted Officers’ Association on ‘Nava Kerala and Civil Services’ here on Tuesday, Mr. Vijayan said corruption was a ‘curse’ that the State had not succeeded in ridding itself totally from. He said the government maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards such practices.
“While the State has been lauded for being among the least corrupt ones in the country, we must strive to become a corruption-free State. Service organisations had a crucial role to play in achieving the goal. Service delivery must remain the key priority for civil servants. Applicants must not be made to run from pillar to post,” he remarked.
Mr. Vijayan also stressed on the need for accountability in Civil Services. “Civil servants must consider service delivery and scrutiny as equally important. There is a need to subject the sector to social audit to ascertain its efficiency,” he said, adding that outdated laws and rules would be reformed to ensure they did not adversely impact the society.
A redeployment of government employees was on the cards in the State, he said, to address the issue of shortage in many offices and surplus staff in others. However, transfers would be effected on the basis of proper criteria.
‘Downsizing civil services’
According to him, Kerala pursued a starkly contrasting policy as opposed to the Centre by strengthening the Civil Service sector. While the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) could make only around 16,000 placements in various sectors during the last five years, the Kerala PSC provided jobs to 1.6 lakh of people during the same period.
“Such a strategy was part of the Centre’s attempts to downsize Civil Services. The sector was being rendered irrelevant through unchecked privatisation,” he said.
Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal, State Planning Board vice chairperson V.K. Ramachandran, former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac also spoke.
