Why in news?

• Weeks after the Bulandshahr violence that resulted in the death of a Uttar Pradesh (UP) police inspector, 83 former bureaucrats have written an open letter demanding the resignation of the CM of UP.

• The letter has highlighted that neutrality helps enlightened public officials escape the honeycomb-like structure of a partisan government.

What is the significance of the letter?

• First, it is written keeping in view the normative principles of the Indian Constitution as the reference point.

• It shows that public officials are not slaves to either the politicians or any other authority other than the moral authority of the Constitution.

• Second, it shows that the principle of neutrality implies a measure of independence both from the partisan interests of the government of the day and the exogenous agenda that prompts certain social groups to cow others down to humiliating vulnerability.

• The spirit of the letter shows that there is a need for public officials to play an active role that is crucial not only to bring in relief to its very credibility

• But it also suggests the role particularly for a socially sympathetic bureaucracy to adopt administrative practices so as to give some relief to those social groups who continue to reel under the constant fear of mob lynching.

• Third, the letter also suggests that failure of the government, which by implication promotes the emergence of the hydra-headed mob lynching mentality, makes the discussion on post-bureaucratic society irrelevant.

• Finally, it also suggests that even in the post-retirement period, public officials could make significant interventions for more noble purposes without joining a particular brand of formal politics.

How does the constitution influence bureaucracy?

• For a genuine public official, commitment to constitutional principles is not only a lifelong project, but, more importantly, it can be carried out without any political or ideological mediation.

• If this is the case, the Constitution serves as the standard by which one can measure the capacity of a bureaucracy to remain committed to peace, harmony and justice.

• The onus is on those public officials who have either joined or are planning to join parties with shaky records on gender and social pluralism, to seek public validity for their entry into such parties.

What are the moral functions of the public officials?

• First, to protect the very state of which it is a part from being disrupted by the disquieting elements from civil society.

• Second, to prevent the disruptive efforts of a society that is ridden with caste and patriarchal consciousness.

• These involve public officials’ moral capacity to resist anti-constitutional interests that the government of the day may try to push.

• Also needed is their active intervention to translate these constitutional principles to  understand everyday forms of people’s problematic social practice.

Why neutrality is crucial in bureaucracy?

• Public officials form part of a universal class because the end of their activities is to realise the universal interest of establishing a decent and peaceful society.

• It has the capacity to de-antagonise social relations through peaceful mediation, persuasion, and deliberation.

• The universality of such a class is contrasted with the pursuit of a particular interest.

• Thus, the neutrality principle as suggested in their letter has a moral function to prevent public officials from becoming slaves to the government of the day.