Government Faces Internal Debate Over Lateral Entry Scheme Despite Sufficient Pool of Officers

The Government’s lateral entry scheme, designed to bring fresh talent into policy-making roles, faced significant internal scrutiny before its implementation, as revealed by recently reviewed documents. The scheme, initially proposed by the sectoral Group of Secretaries on Governance (GoS) in February 2017, aimed to address a shortage of Joint Secretary (JS) level officers due to low recruitment between 1996 and 2002. The proposal recommended the annual lateral entry of 15 Joint Secretaries from the open market for seven years, totaling 105 posts.

However, when this proposal reached the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in April 2017, the department questioned the necessity of the scheme. The DoPT highlighted that there was no shortage of qualified and empanelled officers available for JS positions, with an average of 18 applicants for every vacancy. They also pointed out that there were 3,065 officers already empanelled for JS-level posts as of January 1, 2017.

The DoPT expressed concerns over the proposed scale of the lateral entry scheme, suggesting that a more cautious approach was needed, with a cap of 5-10% of JS posts being filled through lateral entry. Despite these reservations, the Government proceeded with the lateral entry of 10 JSs and 40 DS/Director level officers, marking a significant shift in recruitment strategy aimed at infusing fresh perspectives into policy-making.