Civil Service under British Administration and Role of Cornwallis:

• The civil services were first established and organized by Cornwallis, who served as governor-general from 1786 until 1793.
• Raising government worker pay, rigidly enforcing regulations against private trade, forbidding civil servants from accepting gifts, bribes, and the like and requiring promotions based on seniority were all efforts he made to combat corruption.

Civil Service under British Administration and Reforms:

• Charter Act, 1853
• The Charter Act of 1853, which required that future hiring be done through an open competition, ended the Company’s patronage.
• On the other side, Indians were prohibited from prominent posts from the beginning. Cornwallis reasoned that “every native of Hindustan is corrupt.”
• All positions paying 500 pounds annually were set aside for the Company’s covenanted servants by the Charter Act of 1793.
• Statutory Civil Service
• In 1878–1879, Lytton formed the Statutory Civil Service, with Indians of high families filling one-sixth of covenanted jobs through local government nominations, subject to ratification by the secretary of state and the viceroy.
• But the program was a failure, and it was abandoned.
• Aitchison Commission, 1886
• A commission headed by Sir Charles Aitchison was established in 1886 to come up with a strategy for including Indians in all areas of government service.
• It was planned to look into the subject of Indian employment, including both uncovenanted service involving lower-level administrative appointments and jobs typically reserved by law for members of the covenanted civil service.
• The Commission rejected the proposal to alter the covenanted civil service’s recruitment process.
• The Statutory Civil Service should be abolished, and the civil services should be divided into three categories: Provincial, subordinate, and imperial.
• Montford Reform, 1919
• Three levels of service classification were recommended by the Government of India Act of 1919 on Constitutional Reforms: All India, Provincial, and Subordinate.
• The term “All India Services” was used to describe all imperial services present at the period in the provinces, whether in reserved or transferred departments.
• In terms of dismissal, pay, pensions, and other rights, All India Services employees received special protections.
• The Act advocated the creation of a Public Service Commission charged with hiring for the service as a defense against political interference.
• Lee Commission, 1924
• Three levels of service classification were recommended by the Government of India Act of 1919 on Constitutional Reforms: All India, Provincial, and Subordinate.
• The term “All India Services” was used to describe all imperial services present at the period in the provinces, whether in reserved or transferred departments.
• In terms of dismissal, pay, pensions, and other rights, All India Services employees received special protections.
• The Act advocated the creation of a Public Service Commission charged with hiring for the service as a defense against political interference.
• Government of India Act, 1935
• A Federal Public Service Commission and a Provincial Public Service Commission were suggested to be established within their respective domains under the 1935 Act.
• Positions of power and authority, however, remained in British hands, and the civil service’s process of “Indianization” did not provide Indians real political power because Indian officials worked as proxies for colonial administration.