DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68026#0165
ROYAL COMMISSION UPON ' DECENTRALIZATION.
159
Government for a period of five years, subject to
renewal. In making his recommendations the Com-
missioner would have regard to the desirability of
representing the districts forming the division and
important classes and interests, but no hard-and-fast
rule as to proportionate representation could be laid
down, at any rate at present. I do not think it
would be desirable, until further experience had been
acquired of their working, to give such Councils
powers of administrative control, reserving to the
Commissioner the right to reverse or modify their
orders at discretion. At starting I should prefer to
make them purely advisory, in the hope that after
the system had been in actual operation for a few
years the free working of advisory methods, unfettered
by rigid rules of procedure, would indicate in what
directions a further advance could be made. It might
be possible, for example, to make it a condition that
in certain definite classes of cases the Commissioner
should only exercise the enlarged powers conferred on
him with the concurrence of a majority of his Council,
and that where the Council did not concur the Com-
missioner would, if he proposed to carry the matter
further, be obliged to refer it for the orders of the
Local Government. But, as I have said, I would
begin on a purely advisory basis. If relations of
mutual confidence are thereby established, as I hope
and believe will be the case, the rest will follow of
itself. To start with a fixed division of powers will
give rise to antagonism and distrust.
The case of District Officers stands on an entirely
different footing. The District Officer is much more
closely in touch with the people than the Com-
missioner, and he has to decide either finally, or by
way of recommendation, a number of comparatively
minor matters relating to his district, some of which
are necessarily of a more or less personal character.
He is constantly moving about ; he comes into contact
with a great number of people, and in this way is
more favourably situated for gauging public opinion
and consulting the many individuals whose interests
are affected than a small Council sitting at head-
quarters and necessarily liable to be approached in
irregular ways and subjected to interested influence.
To tie him down to one set of advisers would simply
hamper him. The efficient District Officer would
■derive no benefit from his Council, for his own range
of knowledge would be wider than theirs, while an
inefficient District Officer might do much harm by
indolent reliance on their advice. Apart, moreover,
from these objections, the District Officer already has
his Advisory Council ready-made in the form of his
District Board, and there is no room for a second
body side by side with this. If the constitution of
the District Board were improved it might serve a
useful purpose as an organised consultative body to
which the District Officer might refer certain classes
of cases. This, however, raises the whole question of
the reform of Local Government which can hardly be
■discussed here. On the whole, therefore, I think
the consideration of Advisory Councils for District
Officers should be deferred until the system of Local
Government has been reconstructed. In carrying out
that reconstruction the desirability of constituting
the District Board so as to discharge the functions of
an advisory district Council ought to be borne in
mind.
45404*. Do you consider that the authority of the
Commissioner or Collector has been weakened by the
creation of special departments or by the centraliza-
tion of Government in the provinces ?—No doubt it is
the case that the authority of the local officers has
been weakened by the causes referred to. In some
degree this is inevitable. How far it is in itself an
evil and what remedies should be applied are ques-
tions covering the entire range of administration.
45405*. Do you consider it desirable to select
officers for the higher posts in the Indian Civil Ser-
vice with greater care ? If so, at what point of an
officer’s official career should such process of selection,
as opposed to mere seniority, begin ?—If the inde-
pendent powers of Executive Officers are to be sub-
stantially increased it appears to me essential that
the men who are to exercise these powers must be
carefully selected. With the spread of education
Indian public opinion becomes continually more
• critical ; the tendency to dispute executive authority
is everywhere on the increase, and the widest publicity
.is given through the press to any official proceedings
that admit of being represented as arbitrary or in- Sir Herbert
judicious. Under any system of Government occa- Risley.
sional scandals are bound to occur, but it is reasonable —-
to expect that they will be less frequent under a 7 Apr., 1908.
regime of selection than where the higher posts are -
left to the chances of mere seniority. The principle
of selection has been insisted on by a series of public
Commissions and has been affirmed by the Secretary
of State, and the Government of India. It was
definitely laid down in 1890 that no officer should be
appointed to the charge of a district or to be a
District and Sessions Judge who had not in the
course of his previous service given distinct evidence
that he was fit for such office. In my judgment this
injunction is perfectly sound in principle. In order,
however, to apply it fairly in practice it should be
stated so as to make selection come into play when an
officer becomes eligible for substantive promotion to
the posts in question. That would give him a fair
chance of proving his capacity while officiating as
District Officer or Judge, and in doubtful cases his
confirmation might be deferred until the Local
Government had been able to test his qualifications
fully. In the case of Commissioners the same prin-
ciple applies only with greater force. Their position
is more conspicuous, and their functions are more
important and demand more special qualifications.
A man may be a good Collector and yet be unfit for
employment as a Commissioner. Here again, how-
ever, there will be little difficulty in giving every one
a trial in officiating appointments, and the rule should
be the same—that selection should take place at the
stage of substantive appointment.
45406*. Should Government have power to retire
officers considered unfit for promotion ? If so, on
what terms as regards pensions ?—Whatever rules
may be made with the object of introducing pro-
motion by selection will be liable to be defeated in
practice by the reluctance of Local Governments to
pass over well-intentioned and industrious men whose
characters are blameless and whose only fault is that
they are incapable, by temperament or mental equip-
ment, of discharging the higher duties of their pro-
fession. For such men excuses will always be found,
and the tendency will be to strain the rules in their
favour and to appoint them to light out of-the-way
districts where their shortcomings will be overlooked,
rather than face the odium of keeping them per-
manently in subordinate posts, and displaying in
public the unedifying spectacle of a senior Civilian
serving out his time for pension as a Joint Magistrate.
These remarks apply more particularly to the initial
stage of selection, when the question is whether a man
is fit to be a District Officer or a J udge. There is a
better prospect of principles being enforced at the
later stage of promotion to a Commissionership, since
the consequences of supersession are not so serious. On
the other hand, the danger of incompetence leading to
open scandal is greater in the case of a District Officer
or a Judge, who has constantly to take specific action
on matters that come before him, than in that of a
Commissioner, who is to a great extent an appellate,
revisional, or recommending authority. At the pre-
sent day the evil effects of executive or judicial
incapacity are so widespread that an effective remedy
is imperatively called for. In my opinion, the only
remedy that is likely to prove effective is that sug-
gested by the Famine Commission in 1880, and by the
Public Service Commission in 1887—that officers
declared unfit for promotion to the substantive rank
of District Officer or District Judge should be liable to
compulsory retirement on pensions proportionate to the
period of active service rendered by them. Whatever
this might cost would be amply repaid by the rise in
the general standard of efficiency which would directly
and indirectly result. The proposal is limited to the
stage of promotion specified. It is not required where
promotion to a Commissionership is withheld. An
officer passed over at that stage has usually served
long enough to be able to retire on full pension. If
he has not, there is no hardship in requiring him to
wait.
45407*. Would it be possible to decrease transfers
(a) by the alteration of the leave rules ; (5) by paying
less attention to seniority in acting appointments ; (c)
by distributing the leave and deputation reserve of
officers over different grades or otherwise ?—The
question of decreasing transfers was carefully con-
sidered by the Government of India in 1900-01. The
159
Government for a period of five years, subject to
renewal. In making his recommendations the Com-
missioner would have regard to the desirability of
representing the districts forming the division and
important classes and interests, but no hard-and-fast
rule as to proportionate representation could be laid
down, at any rate at present. I do not think it
would be desirable, until further experience had been
acquired of their working, to give such Councils
powers of administrative control, reserving to the
Commissioner the right to reverse or modify their
orders at discretion. At starting I should prefer to
make them purely advisory, in the hope that after
the system had been in actual operation for a few
years the free working of advisory methods, unfettered
by rigid rules of procedure, would indicate in what
directions a further advance could be made. It might
be possible, for example, to make it a condition that
in certain definite classes of cases the Commissioner
should only exercise the enlarged powers conferred on
him with the concurrence of a majority of his Council,
and that where the Council did not concur the Com-
missioner would, if he proposed to carry the matter
further, be obliged to refer it for the orders of the
Local Government. But, as I have said, I would
begin on a purely advisory basis. If relations of
mutual confidence are thereby established, as I hope
and believe will be the case, the rest will follow of
itself. To start with a fixed division of powers will
give rise to antagonism and distrust.
The case of District Officers stands on an entirely
different footing. The District Officer is much more
closely in touch with the people than the Com-
missioner, and he has to decide either finally, or by
way of recommendation, a number of comparatively
minor matters relating to his district, some of which
are necessarily of a more or less personal character.
He is constantly moving about ; he comes into contact
with a great number of people, and in this way is
more favourably situated for gauging public opinion
and consulting the many individuals whose interests
are affected than a small Council sitting at head-
quarters and necessarily liable to be approached in
irregular ways and subjected to interested influence.
To tie him down to one set of advisers would simply
hamper him. The efficient District Officer would
■derive no benefit from his Council, for his own range
of knowledge would be wider than theirs, while an
inefficient District Officer might do much harm by
indolent reliance on their advice. Apart, moreover,
from these objections, the District Officer already has
his Advisory Council ready-made in the form of his
District Board, and there is no room for a second
body side by side with this. If the constitution of
the District Board were improved it might serve a
useful purpose as an organised consultative body to
which the District Officer might refer certain classes
of cases. This, however, raises the whole question of
the reform of Local Government which can hardly be
■discussed here. On the whole, therefore, I think
the consideration of Advisory Councils for District
Officers should be deferred until the system of Local
Government has been reconstructed. In carrying out
that reconstruction the desirability of constituting
the District Board so as to discharge the functions of
an advisory district Council ought to be borne in
mind.
45404*. Do you consider that the authority of the
Commissioner or Collector has been weakened by the
creation of special departments or by the centraliza-
tion of Government in the provinces ?—No doubt it is
the case that the authority of the local officers has
been weakened by the causes referred to. In some
degree this is inevitable. How far it is in itself an
evil and what remedies should be applied are ques-
tions covering the entire range of administration.
45405*. Do you consider it desirable to select
officers for the higher posts in the Indian Civil Ser-
vice with greater care ? If so, at what point of an
officer’s official career should such process of selection,
as opposed to mere seniority, begin ?—If the inde-
pendent powers of Executive Officers are to be sub-
stantially increased it appears to me essential that
the men who are to exercise these powers must be
carefully selected. With the spread of education
Indian public opinion becomes continually more
• critical ; the tendency to dispute executive authority
is everywhere on the increase, and the widest publicity
.is given through the press to any official proceedings
that admit of being represented as arbitrary or in- Sir Herbert
judicious. Under any system of Government occa- Risley.
sional scandals are bound to occur, but it is reasonable —-
to expect that they will be less frequent under a 7 Apr., 1908.
regime of selection than where the higher posts are -
left to the chances of mere seniority. The principle
of selection has been insisted on by a series of public
Commissions and has been affirmed by the Secretary
of State, and the Government of India. It was
definitely laid down in 1890 that no officer should be
appointed to the charge of a district or to be a
District and Sessions Judge who had not in the
course of his previous service given distinct evidence
that he was fit for such office. In my judgment this
injunction is perfectly sound in principle. In order,
however, to apply it fairly in practice it should be
stated so as to make selection come into play when an
officer becomes eligible for substantive promotion to
the posts in question. That would give him a fair
chance of proving his capacity while officiating as
District Officer or Judge, and in doubtful cases his
confirmation might be deferred until the Local
Government had been able to test his qualifications
fully. In the case of Commissioners the same prin-
ciple applies only with greater force. Their position
is more conspicuous, and their functions are more
important and demand more special qualifications.
A man may be a good Collector and yet be unfit for
employment as a Commissioner. Here again, how-
ever, there will be little difficulty in giving every one
a trial in officiating appointments, and the rule should
be the same—that selection should take place at the
stage of substantive appointment.
45406*. Should Government have power to retire
officers considered unfit for promotion ? If so, on
what terms as regards pensions ?—Whatever rules
may be made with the object of introducing pro-
motion by selection will be liable to be defeated in
practice by the reluctance of Local Governments to
pass over well-intentioned and industrious men whose
characters are blameless and whose only fault is that
they are incapable, by temperament or mental equip-
ment, of discharging the higher duties of their pro-
fession. For such men excuses will always be found,
and the tendency will be to strain the rules in their
favour and to appoint them to light out of-the-way
districts where their shortcomings will be overlooked,
rather than face the odium of keeping them per-
manently in subordinate posts, and displaying in
public the unedifying spectacle of a senior Civilian
serving out his time for pension as a Joint Magistrate.
These remarks apply more particularly to the initial
stage of selection, when the question is whether a man
is fit to be a District Officer or a J udge. There is a
better prospect of principles being enforced at the
later stage of promotion to a Commissionership, since
the consequences of supersession are not so serious. On
the other hand, the danger of incompetence leading to
open scandal is greater in the case of a District Officer
or a Judge, who has constantly to take specific action
on matters that come before him, than in that of a
Commissioner, who is to a great extent an appellate,
revisional, or recommending authority. At the pre-
sent day the evil effects of executive or judicial
incapacity are so widespread that an effective remedy
is imperatively called for. In my opinion, the only
remedy that is likely to prove effective is that sug-
gested by the Famine Commission in 1880, and by the
Public Service Commission in 1887—that officers
declared unfit for promotion to the substantive rank
of District Officer or District Judge should be liable to
compulsory retirement on pensions proportionate to the
period of active service rendered by them. Whatever
this might cost would be amply repaid by the rise in
the general standard of efficiency which would directly
and indirectly result. The proposal is limited to the
stage of promotion specified. It is not required where
promotion to a Commissionership is withheld. An
officer passed over at that stage has usually served
long enough to be able to retire on full pension. If
he has not, there is no hardship in requiring him to
wait.
45407*. Would it be possible to decrease transfers
(a) by the alteration of the leave rules ; (5) by paying
less attention to seniority in acting appointments ; (c)
by distributing the leave and deputation reserve of
officers over different grades or otherwise ?—The
question of decreasing transfers was carefully con-
sidered by the Government of India in 1900-01. The