The decision to ban extensions beyond the age of 60 to civil servants is a modest step towards addressing a serious problem. Let us hope that the UPA government is serious about this measure. It can debated whether 60 is the right age to retire civil servants. What is less debatable is that the provision for granting extensions on discretionary basis seriously compromised the working of the civil service. The exercise of discretionary power creates a politics of favouritism. The granting of extensions was not used on any transparent criteria. It was seldom used as device for rewarding genuine talent. In fact, instead of emboldening senior civil servants it only made them more cautious.Almost all areas of public administration are now governed by something close to the strict seniority principle. This principle is a default way of ensuring that no undue favoritism takes place. But the principle has undesirable consequences. First, it does not provide incentives for rewarding talent or innovators. Second, it keeps younger people with the energy and ideas out of the loops of power for much too long. Around the world, whether in politics or administration, governments institute mechanisms to ensure the lateral entry of young and talented people into positions of power. India’s rules of recruitment make such lateral entries impossible. In so far as not granting extensions at least creates scope for a little more mobility at the top of the civil service, and gives more officers an opportunity to rise to the top, it may be a good thing.Civil servants may rightly complain that they alone are not guilty of seeking post-retirement sinecures. Everyone, from judges to politicians, seeks to extend his/her tenure with the government, through some position or the other. And it may also be rightly suggested that age has nothing to do with being young. At the same time, there is also some truth to the proposition that the wisest civil servants are ex-civil servants unencumbered by the need to curry favors. So it may not be a bad thing if there are more of them. And it will certainly be a good thing if those who have the future to look forward to, acquire more responsible positions than those who look to the past to underwrite their sense of entitlement.
