Accountability of Mnister and civil servants in a Westminster parliamentary democracy

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
Civil Appeal No 2357 of 2017
Government of NCT of Delhi Appellant
Versus
Union of India Respondent
2
J U D G M E N T
Dr. Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, CJI

(b) Accountability of civil servants in a Westminster parliamentary democracy
102. In a democracy, accountability lies with the people who are the ultimate
sovereign. The parliamentary form of government adopted in India essentially
30 Dr DD Basu, Commentary on the Constitution of India, 9th Edn., 2018, Vol. 13, page 13991 31 (1985) 3 SCC 398 32 Muniswamy Pillai and BN Munavalli in Constituent Assembly Debates, Vol. 9 (22nd August 1949)
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requires that Parliament and the government, consisting of elected
representatives, to be accountable to the people. The Cabinet consisting of elected
representatives is collectively responsible for the proper administration of the
country and is answerable to the legislature for its actions. The Constitution confers
the legislature the power to enact laws and the government to implement laws. The
conduct of the government is periodically assessed by the electorate in elections
conducted every five years. The government is formed with the support of a
majority of elected members in the legislature. The government responsible to the
legislature is assessed daily in the legislature through debates on Bills, or
questions raised during Question Hour, resolutions, debates and no-confidence
motions. The government is responsible for the decisions and policies of each of
the ministers and of their departments. This creates a multi-linked chain of
accountability, where the legislature is accountable to the people who elected
them, and the government is collectively responsible to the legislature. This
establishes a link between the electorate and the government. The government is
collectively responsible for its actions. The Council of Ministers is accountable to
both the legislature and to the electorate. Collective responsibility is an important
component of parliamentary democracies.33
103. Civil servants are required to be politically neutral. The day-to-day decisions
of the Council of Ministers are to be implemented by a neutral civil service, under
the administrative control of the ministers. In order to ensure that the functioning
of the government reflects the preferences of the elected ministers, and through
33 Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar, (2017) 3 SCC 1; Amarinder Singh v. Punjab Vidhan Sabha, (2010) 6
SCC 113; 2018 Constitution Bench judgment.
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them the will of the people, it is essential to scrutinize the link of accountability
between the civil service professionals and the elected ministers who oversee
them. Since civil service officers constituting the permanent executive exercise
considerable influence in modern welfare state democracies, effective
accountability requires two transactions: one set of officials, such as the
bureaucracy, who give an account of their activity, to another set, such as
legislators, who take due account and feed their own considered account back into
the political system and, through that mechanism, to the people.34
104. In Secretary, Jaipur Development Authority v. Daulat Mal Jain,
35 this
Court held that an individual minister is answerable and accountable to people for
the acts done by the officials working under him. This Court observed that:
The Government acts through its bureaucrats, who
shape its social, economic and administrative
policies to further the social stability and progress
socially, economically and politicallyThe Minister
is responsible not only for his actions but also for the
job of the bureaucrats who work or have worked
under him. He owes the responsibility to the electors
for all his actions taken in the name of the Governor
in relation to the Department of which he is the
head he bears not only moral responsibility but
also in relation to all the actions of the bureaucrats
who work under him bearing actual responsibility in
the working of the department under his ministerial
responsibility.
105. In the concurring opinion in the 2018 Constitution Bench decision, Justice
Chandrachud highlighted the intrinsic link between government accountability and
the principle of collective responsibility. The judgment underscored the
34 Adam Przeworski, Susan C. Stokes, Bernard Manin, Democracy, Accountability, and Representation
(Cambridge University Press 2012), at page 298.
35 (1997) 1 SCC 35
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responsibility of an individual minister to the legislature for any and every action
undertaken by public officials in the department which the minister oversees:
327. Collective responsibility also exists in practice
in situations where ministers have no knowledge of
the actions taken by the subordinate officers of their
respective departments
343.  Modern government, with its attendant
complexities, comprises of several components and
constituent elements. They include Ministers who
are also elected as members of the legislature and
unelected public officials who work on issues of
daily governance... All Ministers are bound by a
decision taken by one of them or their departments.

106. Civil service officers thus are accountable to the ministers of the elected
government, under whom they function. Ministers are in turn accountable to
Parliament or, as the case may be. the state legislatures. Under the Westminster
parliamentary democracy, civil services constitute an important component of a
triple chain of command that ensures democratic accountability. The triple chain of
command is as follows:
a. Civil service officers are accountable to Ministers;
b. Ministers are accountable to Parliament/Legislature; and
c. Parliament/Legislature is accountable to the electorate.
107. An unaccountable and a non-responsive civil service may pose a serious
problem of governance in a democracy. It creates a possibility that the permanent
executive, consisting of unelected civil service officers, who play a decisive role in
the implementation of government policy, may act in ways that disregard the will of
the electorate.