Protect PSC independence

Saturday, 17 September 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

WITHOUT education, there is no civilisation. However, the Public Services Commission (PSC) is heading for a collision course with the highest decision-making body in the land. The challenge is to see whether the impartiality of the PSC will be able to withstand political pressure.

Recently, the Cabinet appointed a sub-committee comprising Education Minister Bandula Gunawardene, Water Supply Minister Dinesh Gunawardene and Petroleum Minister Susil Premajayanth to study the longstanding demands of some 4,000 acting principals.

The sub-committee recommended that those with required qualifications be absorbed into the permanent cadre after evaluating their performance as acting principals. However, the PSC has refused to abide by this recommendation, citing technical reasons.

The issue was taken up at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, where some ministers raised concerns about the difficulties they faced when dealing with the PSC in appointing officials at their ministries. President Rajapaksa said the PSC was answerable to the Cabinet under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and was reported to have vowed to summon the PSC members before the Cabinet soon.

The PSC and other independent commissions were established under the 17th Amendment of 2001, to make appointments to the public service devoid of political influence. The members to these commissions were appointed by the Constitutional Council, which comprised members nominated by the parties that were represented in Parliament at that time.

However, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution enacted on 8 September 2011 provides for the appointment of members to the PSC by the Parliamentary Council comprising the Speaker, the Opposition Leader and his nominee, and the Prime Minister and his nominee.

Everyone knows that the public service in Sri Lanka is infested with politics and any attempt made to clean it up is laudable. However, it should not be at the cost of the principals. Even if there are technicalities as to why these people should not be absorbed, the yeoman work that they have rendered by keeping schools in war-torn areas running during the worst part of the conflict should not be forgotten.

Negotiation is the better part of battle. Perhaps the PSC should consider taking these principals’ issues case by case and deciding through a transparent process who can be absorbed and under what justification. If they have indeed fulfilled the spirit of the teaching profession, then they can perhaps be assisted to get the missing qualifications so that all that they have done is not disregarded.

However, this is not to give licence for politicians to take a high-handed approach as they so often do. The decision should only be made by the PSC and should not have any coercion from the Cabinet or any other political body. The fact that the PSC is now answerable to the Cabinet and appointed by political members severely undermines its credibility and more inroads should not be made into an already tenuous situation.

Pressurisation is against the spirit of independence and justice that the PSC was initially established under. If the Government wishes to give credence to its claim of democracy, then it would be best that it stays out of this situation altogether.