JOIN USA Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma issued notices on the joint plea made by the petitioners, including T S R Subramaniam, former cabinet secretary and Abid Hussian, former ambassador to the US, among others seeking a fixed tenure for civil servants.
“There is an urgent need to depoliticise management of transfers, postings, inquiries, the process of promotion, reward, punishment, and disciplinary matters relating to civil servants need.
“Further, an independent Civil Service Board or Commission, both at the Centre and the state needs to be established to regulate transfers and punishments in a transparent, rule-based manner as well as to ensure accountability and probity,” the petition said.
It sought putting in place a mechanism under which civil servants at all levels were given a fixed tenure from three to five years depending on seniority of the post and to foster functional freedom and independence.
The PIL alleged transfers are often used as instruments of reward and punishment, with officials being frequently transferred on the whims and caprices, as well as the personal needs, of local politicians and other vested interests. Officers, especially those in the All India Services serving in state governments, have no stability or security of tenure, it said.