Parliamentary panel to examine issue of lateral entry

New Delhi: The issue of lateral entry to fill key posts in government departments, which triggered a political row earlier this year over lack of reservation for these positions, will be examined by a parliamentary panel.

According to details put out by the Lok Sabha secretariat, lateral entry in civil services is among the subjects selected by the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice for examination in 2024-25.

In August this year, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had advertised 45 posts -- 10 of joint secretaries and 35 of directors and deputy secretaries -- to be filled through the lateral entry mode on contract basis.

The advertisement triggered protests from the Opposition as well as NDA allies like the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Janata Dal (United).

Many leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, and Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav slammed the government's policy for not having reservations for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates.

The government then asked the UPSC to cancel its advertisement.

Bureaucrats are usually recruited through the civil services exam process but lateral entrants, typically experts in a particular field, are inducted directly for a limited term. No quota is currently applicable to these appointments. So far, 63 appointments have been made through lateral entry out of which 35 appointments were from the private sector. At present, 57 officers are in positions in ministries/departments, according to the latest data.

The lateral recruitment in the central government, has been undertaken since 2018 to appoint persons for specific assignments, keeping in view their specialised knowledge and expertise in the domain area.