Culture Ministry gets nod for move to fast-track appointments

In a significant step towards cutting bureaucratic delays in appointment to important posts, the Culture Ministry has got the Prime Minister’s...

In a significant step towards cutting bureaucratic delays in appointment to important posts, the Culture Ministry has got the Prime Minister’s approval to fill top-level vacancies in some of its key organisations through a search-cum-selection committee instead of taking the usual UPSC route.

Organisations like the Anthropological Survey of India and the National Archives of India have been headless for years, while a few others, like the Archaeological Survey of India, are operating with short-term appointments.

Appointment of top officers to eight such organisations can henceforth be done through the search-cum-selection panel, ministry

sources said. Apart from the three mentioned above, the organisations include the National Museum, National Gallery of Modern art, National Library in Kolkata, Central Reference Library in Kolkata, and the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property in Lucknow.

Story continues below this ad

While giving his go-ahead to the idea, the Prime Minister has also asked the Culture Ministry to finalise the eligibility criteria and other details for each of the posts, which are currently being worked out. The idea is to move away from qualification-oriented selection to achievement-oriented selection by broadbasing the eligibility criteria.

Apart from speeding up the process of these appointments, such a move is likely to result in selection of better candidates. Sources said that very often the most eligible candidates do not respond to UPSC advertisements. A search-cum-selection panel would be in a position to ask such people to apply.

In his directive, the Prime Minister said that the panel should include at least two eminent experts from the relevant field and a concerned UPSC member. The names of the chairman as well as the members of every such panel would have to be approved by the Prime Minister.