DMPQ- What are the implications of neutrality in civil services?

The concept of neutrality has three implications:

  • public confidence in the non-political character of public service,
  • Confidence of ministers belonging to any political party in the loyalty of the permanent subordinates, and
  • High morale of public servants based on the confidence that promoting would be made not on the basis of political considerations but on merit. This was developed in Britain Switzerland and other countries that follow British pattern of administration.

A neutral model of bureaucracy cannot be practiced arbitrarily. Moreover, neutrality is a state mind and there can be no effective law to ensure it. Neutrality of bureaucracy is a characteristic feature of Weberian ideal type.

This is not a universal phenomenon. The neutrality has been accepted to the because their ultimate principles of action have not been in conflict with the policies of the politic parties in power, nor the governments have sought to adopt from these principles in action. However this concept has been outdated.

The principle of anonymity flows from (i) the Civil Servants work as instrument of political master and (ii) in a parliamentary democracy they work under the cover of the ministerial responsibility.