Public Services Bill

Published on 26 Nov 2025

A draft ‘Public Service Bill’ under consideration of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions seeks to lay down a number of generic expectations from civil servants, which are referred to as “values”.

Provisions of the Bill 

• Merit-Based Appointments: Appointment to public services based on the principle of merit, and fair & open competition.

• Code of Ethics and Values: Public Service Code of Ethics and public service values.

• Performance Management System: A performance management system for public service employees.

• Review of Compensation: Periodical review of pay structures, incentives etc.

• Central Public Services Authority Reporting: The Constitution of the Central Public Services Authority has to submit an annual report to the Central Government telling the compliance with the bill’s provisions.

• Values of Public Service: According to the draft bill, some specified values should guide the discharge of the functions of the Public Service and the Public Servants, these are as follows:

• Promoting patriotism and national pride.

• Obey the Indian Constitution and the law of the land.

• Impartiality, objectivity, honesty, courtesy, diligence and transparency.

• Maintaining absolute integrity.

2nd ARC Recommendations

• Apex level: There should be a clear & concise statement of values and ethical standards that a civil servant must imbibe. These values should be related to maintaining the highest ethical standards, political impartiality and accountability for actions.

• Second level: At this level, the broad principles that must govern a civil servant’s behaviour should be outlined. This will constitute the Code of Ethics.

• Third level: There must be a specific Code of Conduct stipulating a list of unacceptable and acceptable behaviour & actions unambiguously.

• Statutory backing: Values and Code of Ethics should be given statutory backing by including them in the proposed Civil Services Bill.

Tags:
Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude

Keywords:
Public Services Bill public service Provisions of the Bill Code of Ethics and Values Performance Management System 2nd ARC Recommendations Code of Ethics Code of Conduct

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 4

Topics:
Public Service Values