Law Minister Arjun Meghwal Defends Lateral Entry, Blames Congress for Its Introduction

Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal slammed Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday over the issue of lateral entry to senior government positions. The minister argued that the Congress is the one which initiated this practice in India.

Very recently, the Union Public Service Commission announced recruitment to 45 senior roles in different ministries, thereby opening up posts for Joint Secretaries, Directors, and Deputy Secretaries through lateral entry. Opposition parties are stiff in opposition to it. In particular, Rahul Gandhi has taken a tough stand on the issue, saying that it doesn't take into account reservation rights for OBCs, SCs, and STs.

He said that the allegations against RSS by Gandhi were with regard to making lateral entry into government positions. "A lateral entry made former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Finance Secretary in 1976," he pointed out. Similarly, Montek Singh Ahluwalia was also appointed as Chairman of the Planning Commission.

According to Meghwal, Rahul Gandhi, being the LoP, should be more careful and responsible while making any statement. "It was PM Modi who corrected the process by instructing officials to follow proper recruitment channels through UPSC, which adheres to its established rules and regulations," he said.

He then went on to criticize the Congress over the state of administrative reforms under their watch, citing how Sonia Gandhi chairs the National Advisory Commission—a non-constitutional body that holds more sway than the Prime Minister's office.

The Minister also referred to the Administrative Reform Commission set up in 2005 in UPA-I, whose reports were never acted upon, he pointed out. He added that the present recruitment process was open to everybody, including SC/ST candidates, and that Congress's charge of destroying reservations was absolute lies.

He said Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed reservations in 1961 and Rajiv Gandhi had refused to implement the Mandal Commission report, claiming that Rahul is only trying to inflame passions among OBCs and SC/STs.

While the first ARC, under the chairmanship of Morarji Desai, later K. Hanumanthaiah, in 1966 laid the groundwork for discussing the need for specialized skills in civil services, it did not actually suggest lateral entry but insisted on professionalization and training of the bureaucracy.

It was the second Administrative Reforms Commission, set up in 2005 during UPA-I and headed by Veerappa Moily, that more clearly endorsed the concept of lateral entry. It recommended that experts be inducted to fill jobs requiring special knowledge.

The union minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has pointed out the duplicity of the Congress over the issue and said, "The INC's stand on lateral entry is hypocritical. The UPA government is one where the process of lateral entry was evolved. The second ARC, constituted under UPA and headed by Shri Veerappa Moily, recommended induction of experts for specialized positions. The NDA government has carried it transparently through UPSC to improve the governance."