Selection Process In Government Service

Objective Of Selection Process-

The objective of any process of selection for entry into public service is to secure the best and the most suitable person for the job, avoiding patronage and favoritism.  The process of selection begins with the issuance of advertisement and ends with the filling up of notified vacancies. The process consists of various steps like inviting applications, scrutiny of applications, rejections of defective applications or elimination of ineligible candidates, conducting examinations, calling for an interview or viva voce and preparation of the list of successful candidates for appointment.

Generally, the work of selection is given to a selection committee. The function of such a committee is to select those amongst the eligible candidates on the basis of merit adjudged by adopting fairly laid down criteria and finally preparing a panel or select list of the successful or selected candidates. When the selection committee makes a recommendation in favor of a particular candidate such recommendation must be placed before the appointments Committee without any intermediate comments by any other authority. Because some time selection committee and appointment committee may differ.

The function of the selection committee comes to an end when the process of selection is completed and the proceedings are drawn.

Norms of Selection –

The object of the selection process is to obtain the best material for public service. For the selection of the best candidate, the selection committee held the written examination and after that took the interview of a selected candidate who passed the written examination with good marks. A written examination assesses a candidate’s knowledge and intellectual ability whereas an interview test is valuable to asses a candidate’s overall intellectual and personal qualities. So written examination or interview the essential for the selection of an eligible candidate.

Written Examination-

It is a common feature of the selection process. In the case of Lila Dhar V. State of Rajasthan, the supreme court recognized the importance of competitive/written examination in the selection process. On a close analysis of the observation in Lila Dhar the following principles emerge :

1. The written examination assesses the man’s intellect and the interview test the man himself and the twain shall meet for a proper selection.
2. The weight to be attached to the written examination and the interview, however, would depend on the service for which the recruitment is made e.g in develop, greater weight might be given to performance in written examination whereas, in case of services to which recruitment has to be made from persons of matured personality, interview test may be more effective way to assessing the suitability.

It has been held that if sufficient number of suitable candidates are not available on the basis of a particular competitive examination, the selection of the candidates for the remaining vacancies should be made on the basis of result of a subsequent examination and not by lowering down the norms of earlier examination and showing favour to any candidate on an extraneous or irrelevant consideration during examination amounts to violation of Article 14 of the constitution.

Interview or Viva-Voce –

 Interviews are an almost inevitable process of selection. The purpose of the interview is the discovery of abilities and deficiencies not displayed by the performance in the written examination. It is test devised for the assessment of abilities, aptitudes, attainments, and accomplishments of the candidate in spheres which have relevance to suitability in the context of responsibilities and duties of the post which he seeks.

The objective of the interview and the important role that it plays in the selection process has been considered at some length in Mehmood Alam Tariq v. the State of Rajasthan. Here, the Supreme Court noted that “Promise as well as dangers” of the interview method. The Supreme Court has also pointed out that Interviews as such are not bad but polluting it to attain illegitimate ends is bad. To ensure that fairness has been observed, the court observed that the selection committee should record the marks at the time of interview and other fair checks like guidelines for the marks and the marks about the candidates and the like.

Both written examination and interview test are accepted as essential features for proper appointment in public services.