Code of Conduct For Public Servants
Code of Conduct For Public Servants
T HE DAYS of the Indian Civil Service of the old style are going to be over and in its place we
have brought into being the All India Administrative Service. The change is both significant
and epoch-making. In the first place, it is an unmistakable symptom of the transfer of power
which is taking place from foreign to Indian hands. Secondly, it marks the inauguration of the All
India Service officered entirely by Indians and subjected completely to Indian control. Thirdly,
the Service will now be free to or will have to adopt its true role of national service without
being trammeled by traditions and habits of the past.
I have dwelt on the significance of this change mainly in order to bring home to the minds
of the probationers particularly, and to the outside world incidentally, that the days when the
service could be masters were over and the officers must be guided by a real spirit of service
in their day-to-day administration, for in no other manner can they fit in the scheme of things.
Perhaps you are aware of a saying which is current in India regarding the past civil service,
which is known as the Indian Civil Service, that it is neither Indian, nor civil, nor imbued with
any spirit of service. In a true sense, it is not Indian because the Indian Civil Servants are mostly
anglicised, their training was in foreign lands and they had to serve foreign masters. Therefore, in
effect, the whole service was known not to be Indian, nor to be civil, nor imbued with any spirit
of service, and yet it was known as Indian Civil Service. The thing is now going to change.1
To some extent, all of you, who are undergoing instruction in this school, are more fortunate
than your predecessors. Your predecessors had to serve as agents of an alien rule and, even against
their better judgement, had sometimes to execute the biddings of their foreign employers. You
will now have the satisfaction that whatever you do, you will be doing under the orders of your
own fellow-Indians. Your predecessors were brought up in the traditions in which they felt out
of touch and kept themselves aloof from the common run of the people. It will be your bounden
duty to treat the common men in India as your own or to put it correctly, to feel yourself to be
one of them and amongst them, and you will have to learn not to despise or to disregard them.
In other words, you will have to adopt yourselves to democratic ways of administration.
1. Text of a speech delivered to the probationers at the All India Administrative Service Training School, Delhi in April, 1947.
Originally published in Bombay Chronicle, April 21, 1947. This extract was circulated at Civil Services Day function at Vigyan
Bhawan, New Delhi on April 21. 2007. Extract is taken from The Collected Works of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Volume XII
(1 January 1947-31 December, 1947.
4 Ethics, Integrity and Values in Public Service
Almost all of you have had service in the army and it should not, therefore, be necessary
for me to stress the need of discipline in your ranks in whatever capacity you may be serving
India. Along with discipline, you must cultivate an esprit de corps without which a Service
as such has little meaning. You should regard it as a proud privilege to belong to the Service,
covenants of which you will sign, and to uphold throughout your service its dignity, integrity
and incorruptibility.
You would do well to examine the conditions which prevail in India today. The real task in
India has just begun. For the time being there is a transition to the highest stature of independence.
The difficulties of a transitional period have, therefore, been superimposed over those of the
post-war problems. In these circumstances, we must expect—and we have a right to expect—
the best out of every civil servant in India, in whatever position of responsibility he or she may
be. It is not for you to approach your task purely from a mercenary angle or entirely from self-
interest, howsoever enlightened it may be. Your foremost consideration should be how best to
contribute to the well-being of India as a whole.
You can trust government to keep you contented and happy so that you may give your best,
but it would he unworthy of you if you make that a condition of service. After all, your ministers
fully appreciate and realise the importance of your work. They may sometimes appear to you
as lacking in sympathy, but I do not think there is anyone in the highest responsible positions in
India who does not feel that he must take the Service with him if he is to make the maximum
possible contribution to the well-being of India.
Above all I would advise you to maintain to the utmost the impartiality and incorruptibility
of administration. A civil servant cannot afford to, and must not, take part in politics. Nor must
he involve himself in communal wrangles. To depart from the path of rectitude in either of
these respects is to debase public service and to lower its dignity. Similarly, no service worth
the name can claim to exist if it does not have in view the achievement of the highest standard
of integrity. Unhappily, India today cannot boast of an incorruptible service, but I hope that
you who are now starting, as it were, a new generation of civil servants, will not be misled by
black sheep in the fold. But would render your service without fear or favour and without any
expectation of extraneous rewards.
You are the pioneers in the Indian Service, and the future of this service will depend much
upon the foundation and traditions that will be laid down by you, by your character and abilities
and by your spirit of service. You can look forward to your future with trust and confidence, and
if you serve in the true spirit of service, I am sure you will have your best reward. I shall ask
you, therefore, to devote yourselves to your studies, fully conscious of the responsibilities and
opportunities that await you and seek from what you hear instruction with an humble mind. I
wish all of you Godspeed.
2 ETHICAL CONCERNS
RAMESH K ARORA IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
‘E THICS’ is a system of accepted beliefs, mores and values which control human behaviour.
More specifically, it is a system based on morals. Thus, ethics is the study of what is morally
right, and what is not. The Latin origin of the word ‘ethics’ is ethicus that means character. Since
the early seventeenth century, ‘ethics’ has been accepted as the “science of morals, the rules
of conduct, the science of human duty.” Hence, in common parlance, ethics is treated as moral
principles that govern a person’s or group’s behaviour. It includes both the science of the good
and the nature of the right.
The ethical concerns of governance have been underscored widely in Indian scriptures and
other treatises such as Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagvat Gita, Buddha Charita (Ashwa Ghosh),
Arthashastra, Panchatantra (Vishnu Sharma), Manusmriti, Kural (Thiru Valluvar), Shukra Niti,
Kadambari (Vana Bhatta), Rajat Rangani (Kalhan), and Hitopadesh (Narayan Pandit). One also
finds precious wisdom on governance in the Chinese texts by Lao Tsu, Confucious and Mencius.
In Western philosophy, there are three eminent schools of ethics. The first, inspired by
Aristotle, holds that virtues (such as justice, charity, and generosity) are dispositions to act in
ways that benefit the possessor of these virtues and the society of which he is a part. The second,
subscribed to mainly by Kant, makes the concept of duty central to morality: human beings are
bound, from knowledge of their duty as rational beings, to obey the categorical imperative to
respect other rational beings with whom they interact. The third is the utilitarian viewpoint that
asserts that the guiding principle of conduct should be the greatest happiness (or benefit) of the
greatest number (Hobson 2002 : 161–62). The Western thought is full of ethical guidelines to
rulers, whether in a monarchy or in a democracy. Such concerns are found in the writings of
Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Penn, John Stuart Mill, Edmund Burke,
Disraeli and others.1
The gist of wisdom on administrative ethics is that public administrators are the
“guardians” of the administrative state. Hence, they are expected to honour public trust and not
violate it. Two crucial questions raised in this context are “why guardian should be guarded?”
* Modified version of the paper originally presented at the National Consultation on Good Governance, organized
by Centre for Good Governance, HCM Rajasthan State Institute of Public Administration, Jaipur. A still earlier
version was used by IGNOU as reading material for MPA programme.
6 Ethics, Integrity and Values in Public Service
and “who guards the guardian?” (Rosenbloom and Kravchuk 2004: 516). The administrators
need to be guarded against their tendency to misconceive public interest, promote self-interest,
indulge in corruption and cause subversion of national interest. And they need to be guarded by
external institutions such as the judiciary, legislature, political executive, media and civil society
organizations. These various modes of control become instruments of accountability.
Kennedy, during his Presidency (1961–1963) had observed : “No responsibility of government
is more fundamental than the responsibility of maintaining the higher standards of ethical
behaviour.”
Historical Context
The history of a country marks a great influence on the ethical character of the governance
system. The spoils system in the USA during the initial phase of the American nation vitiated
the ethical milieu of American Public Administration. “To victor belong the spoils” asserted
8 Ethics, Integrity and Values in Public Service
American President Jackson. Things would have continued the same way had not a disgruntled
job-seeker assassinated President Garfield in 1881. Garfield’s assassination triggered a process
of civil service reforms in the USA, and the setting up of the US Civil Commission in 1883 was
the first major step in that direction.
India has witnessed a long history of unethical practices in the governance system. Kautilya’s
Arthashastra mentions a variety of corrupt practices in which the administrators of those times
indulged themselves. The Mughal Empire and the Indian princely rule were also afflicted with
the corrupt practices of the courtiers and administrative functionaries, with bakshees being
one of accepted means of selling and buying favours. The East India Company too had a few
employees who were criticized for their corrupt behaviour even by the British parliamentarians.
The forces of probity and immorality have co-existed in almost all phases of human history.
Which forces are stronger depends upon the support they get from the prime actors of politico-
administrative system. What is disturbing is that continuation of unethical practices in governance
over a long period is likely to increase the tolerance level for administrative immorality.
In most developing nations having a colonial history, the chasm between the people and
the government continues to be wide. In the colonial era, the legitimacy of governance was not
accepted willingly by a majority of population and, therefore, true loyalty to the rulers was a
rare phenomenon. Although the distance between the governing elite and the citizens has been
reduced substantially in the transformed democratic regimes, yet affinity and trust between the
two has not been satisfactory even in the new dispensation. Unfortunately, even the ruling elite
do not seem to have imbibed the spirit of an emotional affinity with the citizens. The legacy of
competitive collaboration between the people and the administrators continues to perpetuate.
No wonder, this adversarial relationship has a negative impact on administrative ethics.
system made serious efforts to inject morality into the impressionable minds of our youth. We
have miserably failed on these fronts. The need is to develop fresh perspectives on what kind
of Indian men or women we wish to evolve and how? Till then, efforts will have to be focused
on the non-social fronts.
The issues of morality may or may not be rooted in the religious ethos of a society. Indian
religions and scriptures do not favour pursuit of wealth through foul means. Interestingly, Thiru
Valluvar’s Kural, written two thousand years ago in Tamil Nadu, emphasized that earning wealth
brought fame, respect and an opportunity to help and serve others, but he exhorted that it should
be earned through right means only.
The level of integrity among the Protestants and the Parsees is supposed to be relatively
higher when compared to other religions, and one can find the roots of such integrity in the
well-ingrained mores of these religions. Nevertheless, there are several secular groups as well
which are known for their high moral beliefs and conduct.
The cultural system of a country, including its religious orientation, appears to have played
a significant role in influencing the work ethics of its people. For instance, the stress on hard
work, so characteristic of the Protestant ethics, has helped several Christian societies to enhance
their per capita productivity. While Judaism has generally valued physical labour, the Hindu and
Islamic societies, on the other hand, have mostly considered physical labour at a plank lower
than the mental work.
The family and the educational system are influential instruments of socialization and
training of mind in its impressionable years. In case the values inculcated through the family
and the school underscore honesty and ethics, the impact on the mindset of citizens is likely to
be highly positive and powerful over a long time.
In India, there is hardly any effective anti-corruption institution. The Lokpal has yet to be
established, most Lokayuktas are feeble and toothless institutions, while the state vigilance bodies
are low-key actors. The consequences are too obvious to warrant any explanation.
not envisaged, a correlation cannot be ruled out. A lower level of economic development, when
accompanied with inequalities in the economic order, is likely to create a chasm among social
classes and groups. The less privileged or more deprived sections of society may get tempted to
forsake principles of honest conduct while fulfilling their basic needs of existence and security.
Not that the rich will necessarily be more honest (though they can afford to be so), yet what
is apprehended is that the poor, while making a living, may find it a compelling necessity to
compromise with the principles of integrity.
It is interesting to note that with the advent of liberalizing economic regime in developing
nations, there is a growing concern for following the norms of integrity in industry, trade,
management and the governance system on account of the international pressures for higher level
of integrity in the WTO regime. This is what Fred Riggs would call ‘exogenous’ inducements
to administrative change.
The other two issues of ethical decision-making, viz., fairness and objectivity, are in fact
integral components of administrative justice. When administrators are true to their profession,
they are expected to be impartial and fair and not be influenced by nepotism, favouritism and
greed while making decisions of governance. Objectivity should not be misconstrued just as a
mechanical and rigid adherence to laws and rules of decision-making. It has undoubtedly wider
ramifications encompassing a set of positive orientations.
Currently, the notion of ethics has expanded itself to involve all major realms of human
existence. Let us attempt to catalogue the salient aspects of ethics in public administration.
Broadly, these could be summarized as following maxims :
1. Maxim of Legality and Rationality: An administrator will follow the law and rules
that are framed to govern and guide policies and decisions.
2. Maxim of Responsibility and Accountability: An administrator would not hesitate to
accept responsibility for his decision and actions. He would hold himself morally
responsible for his actions and for the use of his discretion while making decisions.
Moreover, he would be willing to be held accountable to higher authorities of
governance and even to the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of his decisions
and actions.
3. Maxim of Work Commitment: An administrator would be committed to his duties and
perform his work with involvement, intelligence and dexterity. As Swami Vivekanand
observed : “Every duty is holy and devotion to duty is the highest form of worship.”
This would also entail a respect for time, punctuality and fulfilment of promises made.
Work is considered not as a burden but as an opportunity to serve and constructively
contribute to society.
4. Maxim of Excellence: An administrator would ensure the highest standards of quality
and administrative decisions and actions and would not compromise with such
standards just because of convenience or complacency. In a competitive international
environment, an administrative system should faithfully adhere to the imperatives of
Total Quality Management (TQM).
5. Maxim of Fusion: An administrator would rationally bring about a fusion of individual,
organizational and social goals to help evolve a unison of ideals and imbibe in his
behaviour a commitment to such fusion. In situation of conflicting goals, a concern
for ethics should govern the choices made.
6. Maxim of Responsiveness and Resilience: An administrator would respond effectively
to the demands and challenges from the external as well as internal environment
of which the administrative system is a part. He would adapt to environmental
transformations and yet sustain the ethical norms of conduct. In situations of deviation
from the prescribed ethical norms, the administrative system would show resilience
and bounce back into the accepted ethical mould at the earliest opportunity.